


Digimon Summer Wars

by moviefan_92



Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure Zero Two | Digimon Adventure 02, Summer Wars (2009)
Genre: Action, Action/Adventure, Adventure, Artificial Intelligence, Battle, Best Friends, Card Games, Crossover, Digital World, Epic Battles, Epic Friendship, Fantasy, Female Friendship, Friendship, Gen, Male Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, Planning Adventures, Science Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Supernatural Elements, Transformation, friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 01:36:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 33,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17234978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moviefan_92/pseuds/moviefan_92
Summary: Post-Anime/2nd Movie. Character crossover with "Summer Wars".The Digital World is in danger with the arrival of an artificial intelligence from an alternate dimension known as Love Machine. He begins eating Digimon, absorbing data, and causing havoc all throughout the Digital World. The DigiDestined are called back to the Digital World to stop him. Yet the more data Love Machine absorbs, the stronger he becomes, and the more he evolves. With the ability to copy any attacks used against him and getting more powerful by the moment, it seems as if the DigiDestined have finally run into an enemy they cannot defeat.Adventure/Supernatural/Friendship/Fantasy/Sci-fi. Rated for fight scenes.STORY COMPLETE





	1. Invasion

**Author's Note:**

> (A/N: I've been on a bit of a "Digimon" craze recently, and I've been wanting to write this ever since I saw "Summer Wars". If you haven't seen it, it's a movie made by the same people that did "Digimon". It's really good and worth watching. The plot is similar to the battle with Diaboromon from the movie. If you don't want to watch it, then I suggest at least looking up the plot on Wikipedia just so you can get a better understanding of what's going on in the story. Anyway, this story has no relation to my other "Digimon" stories. I guess it CAN be, I just hadn't intended it to. This takes place after the defeat of MaloMyotismon and Armageddemon. Speaking of which, did you hear that the 7th Season coming out is going to be about the original DigiDestined in high school? That'll be interesting. Until then, I hope this will keep you entertained.)
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**Originally posted on 04/02/15 - 06/24/15 at: _<https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11157192/1/Digimon-Summer-Wars>_**

 

 

**" DIGIMON SUMMER WARS"**

**Chapter 1: Invasion**

Primary Village was a very special, very unique place in the Digital World. In terms of a video game, it would be considered the save point, or, more specifically, the starting point, a game hub if you will. By that, it meant that this was where Digimon started over when they died.

Perhaps 'died' was not the proper term to use since Digimon never really die. Unless killed, they had eternal lifespans, and even then, their core data was merely reconfigured, and they started over as a Digi-Egg, the only thing they truly lose being the amount of data they had accumulated over time to get stronger in order to Digivolve down whichever Digivolution line Fate had chosen for them.

That was what made Primary Village so special. It was the place where all Digimon were reborn. As such, it resembled a giant playpen for the Baby level Digimon until they grew strong enough to Digivolve to the In-Training level and make it on their own. It was for this reason that File Island, the landmass where Primary Village was located, was filled with black gears, allowing the island to come apart and take them to other locations throughout the Digital World, while those that developed the ability to swim or fly would get off the island on their own.

Of course, with so many Baby Digimon around, a babysitter was needed to watch over all the newborns. The current overseer was an electric Rookie level Digimon known as Elecmon. He was currently wandering through the village with a crowd of Baby Digimon, and a few In-Training that had not yet left the village, following behind. All around them were unhatched Digi-Eggs and baskets. Whenever a Digi-Egg hatched, the broken eggshell would turn into a cradle for the newborn. It was a rather convenient method of recycling.

A nearby egg began to shake, catching Elecmon's attention. He became excited that another one of 'his' babies would be hatching, even though he had seen the process happen countless times. Smiling happily, he gently rubbed the egg to help it along, coaxing the Baby Digimon out.

The egg hatched, and the newborn Digimon stared up at him. Elecmon beamed happily as his crowd cheered. A moment later, the eggshells burst into clouds of smoke and rematerialized into a cradle for the hatchling.

"Hey there," Elecmon cooed. "Goochy goo, goochy goo. Aren't you a cutie?"

The Baby Digimon blew some bubbles at him, and Elecmon chuckled. He'd never get tired of this. Yes, it was a lot of hard work, but he enjoyed it a great deal, and it felt so rewarding.

"Look, look!" another Baby Digimon cried as they bounced up and down. "Another one is appearing!"

Elecmon turned to see bits of data seeming to materialize out of thin air and gather together. That meant that some poor Digimon had met their end somewhere, and now their basic data was accumulating here to form a Digi-Egg. Hopefully they hadn't been an evil Digimon that would be intent on causing trouble when they hatched, or if they had been, then perhaps dying will have taught them a lesson, and they'll turn over a new leaf during their new chance at life. At least Baby Digimon weren't all that strong and Elecmon could easily deal with them if they did act up.

But something was off. Elecmon had seen hundreds of thousands of Digi-Eggs materialize over time, but it soon became apparent that what was appearing was not a Digi-Egg, and he frowned in confusion. And when the data finished gathering, it was not an egg that appeared; eggs were not square.

"A present! A present!" one of the In-Training Digimon cheered, bouncing up and down excitedly.

Elecmon looked at the object curiously. It certainly looked like a present, purple with lavender spots, and tied with a red ribbon. It looked like it belonged under a Christmas tree or in a birthday party gift section, not here in the middle of a field of cradles and Digi-Eggs.

"Mine, mine!" a Baby Digimon cried, and bounced over to it.

"No wait!" Elecmon cried, not sure if opening it was such a good idea without knowing what it was.

The Baby Digimon ignored him as it grabbed the end of the ribbon with its mouth since it lacked any appendages and tugged. The ribbon came loose and the top of the present burst open with a loud  _pop_  that startled the others.

With the top open, the onlookers saw that there was  _something_  inside. A spring stuck out of the box with a yellow ball on the top. Or at least they thought it was a ball until large round eyes blinked open. If any of them had had any knowledge of the real world, they would have thought that it looked like Pac-Man or the Wal-Mart mascot, excluding the large, demented, blood-red, sharp-toothed grin on its face.

Elecmon and the others stared at the creature with completely bewilderment looks on their faces, having no clue as to what it was they were looking at.

"Hey, Elecmon," said an In-Training Digimon, "what is that thing?"

Elecmon scratched his head. "I'm not sure," he muttered, and the creature turned to him. "Um, hi. I'm Elecmon. Er, uh, welcome to Primary Village. Um, who are you?"

The creatures large eyes traveled over Elecmon, then shifted to the other Digimon. Its grin widened, and a sinister snicker escaped it.

" _Tee, hee, hee, hee."_

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

"Sorry I'm late!" Cody Hida cried as he burst into the computer room. "I got stuck with cleanup duty."

He was greeted by 11 pairs of eyes, not all of them human. Those that were consisted of two girls and three boys, one older than the others. He was also the only one that didn't have a Digimon in his arms that was passed off as a stuffed animal when others were around. And as Cody opened his backpack, he pulled out Upamon, his own partner Digimon.

The blonde boy of the group, known as TK, short for Takeru, turned to the redhead without a Digimon. "Ok, Izzy, we're all here now. So what's so important?"

The older boy sighed. "I'm afraid there's a problem. I got a distress call from Gennai asking me to get you all together."

The boy with the goggles on his head scowled slightly. "This feels kind of familiar. Don't tell me Diaboromon is still around."

Izzy shook his head. "No, Davis, I don't think we need to worry about him anymore, not after his last defeat. I didn't get any details, but Gennai's e-mail sounded concerning. Hopefully it's nothing too serious."

The girl with shorter brown hair than the bespectacled one frowned. "You don't think it's a new enemy, do you?"

Davis punched the air. "Don't you worry, Kari, if it is, I'll be sure to handle it."

The girl with glasses cut her eyes at him. "How very reassuring," she muttered sarcastically.

The last boy, child genius and athlete, Ken Ichijouji, hesitated for a moment. "Hey, guys, maybe we should just see what he wants."

"I'm already bringing him up," Izzy replied. "Ah, there we go."

On the computer screen, the image of a young man appeared. Though he looked human, he was, in fact, a Digital life form similar to a Digimon.  _"Hello, there!"_

The girl with glasses smiled at the screen. "Hey, Gennai. How are you?"

He returned the smile.  _"I'm fine, Yole, but I'm afraid we have a problem."_

"Yeah," said Izzy, "I got your e-mail. What's happening?"

" _It seems there's a troublemaker in Primary Village, and-"_

Elecmon suddenly appeared on screen, looking furious with Gennai.  _"A troublemaker? Is that what your calling that thing? This isn't just a troublemaker! It's an evil menace!"_

Patamon, the Digimon resting on TK's head rather than in his arms or on his lap, beamed at the sight of his old friend. "Hey, Elecmon, it's been awhile."

The rabbit-like Digimon looked at the screen.  _"Patamon? Hey, little buddy. How's the tug-of-war master?"_

He chuckled. "I'm doing good. How about you?"

A sad and angry scowl crossed Elecmon's face.  _"I was doing fine up until recently. Some freak is causing a bunch of trouble in Primary Village."_

"Is it a Digimon?" asked the small blue creature in Davis' arms.

Elecmon shook his head.  _"No, it isn't a Digimon."_

"Then it's human?" Yolei gasped.

" _Not a human either,"_  Gennai replied.  _"We actually don't know what it is. It's a Digital life form of some kind that's similar to a Digimon, but it's not one."_

" _Whatever it is, it needs to be stopped,"_  Elecmon raged.  _"From the moment it appeared, it began eating the Digi-Eggs, and even the Baby and In-Training Digimon."_

Stunned looks appeared over the DigiDestined's faces.

"Wait, it's  _eating_  them?" TK asked, looking disgusted.

" _Yes! Some of them he ate more than once. After the egg reappeared, he would just eat it again and again."_  He began openly weeping. _"The poor things will never hatch if he doesn't give them time to develop. And my poor Baby Digimon, they were just born, and already they've been reduced to eggs again!"_  He wiped the tears from his eyes.  _"What kind of monster would do something so cruel?"_

"Er, a Digital one?" Davis replied, earning him an elbow in the ribs from Yolei.

Izzy had his chin in his hand. "This is horrible. I mean, there are carnivorous Digimon out there, but it sounds like this one is eating simply for the sake of eating. It must be getting something out of it."

" _It does seem to be getting stronger,"_  Elecmon confirmed.  _"It's already transformed from what it was from when it first appeared."_

"You mean it Digivolved?" Cody asked.

" _I wouldn't quite call it Digivolution, but it was something similar to the process."_

Gennai cleared his throat.  _"The only thing we know about it for sure is that it's called Love Machine. Everything else is still a complete mystery, but we're looking into it."_

Ken raised an eyebrow. "Love Machine?"

" _Curious name, no? I wonder if there's some meaning behind it."_

" _Excuse me!"_  Elecmon snapped.  _"I don't care if it's called Mr. Cuddly-kins; this thing needs to be stopped!"_  He pressed his face against the screen.  _"Please, my friends, you have to help! My babies are counting on you!"_

"Of course we'll help," Kari insisted. "We can't let this horrible creature run amuck like this."

"And I'll see what information I can find out about it in the meantime," said Izzy. "Maybe I can discover where it came from and how it got to the Digital World."

The tears in Elecmon's eyes were now ones of gratitude.  _"Oh, thank you so much! You don't know how much this means to me!"_

Davis gave him a thumbs up. "Hey, no sweat. We're the DigiDestined after all. Protecting the peace within the Digital World is our job." He arrogantly rubbed beneath his nose with his index finger. "Besides, how bad could something called Love Machine really be?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: Love Machine is in running amuck in the Digital World. If you've seen "Summer Wars", you'll know just how bad him causing trouble is. And I should mention now, the reason this story is in the Digimon section and not the Digimon/Summer Wars Crossover section is because Love Machine will be the only Summer Wars character to appear. You'll find out why later, along with how he came to the Digital World. Poor Davis really has no idea what they're in store for. With that said, I hope you liked the first chapter. I'll be attempting to update on a weekly basis. Hope to see you then.)


	2. Love Machine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: Sweet, I got some fans. i wasn't sure if this story would attract much attention since not many people look at crossover fics. To the Guest that made the "Danny Phantom" request, I have seen the show, but couldn't get into it enough to come up with a story, sorry.)
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**Chapter 2: Love Machine**

"You're telling me that this Love Machine thing did all this?" TK exclaimed.

"Troublemaker my foot," Yolei grumbled. "Elecmon was right, this guy is a total menace."

Having come to the Digital World, the DigiDestined now stood in Primary Village with their Digimon, now at the Rookie level with the exception of the Campion level Gatomon. The place looked as if a giant infant had come and turned the place into their own personal playpen.

"See, see!" Elecmon cried. "I was right, wasn't I? You've got to stop him before he causes anymore trouble!"

"Don't worry," said Ken, "we'll take care of it. But first we need to find this guy."

"Leave that to me. I've got eyes all over the village."

He placed two clawed fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly. About 30 seconds passed before a group of In-Training Digimon came hopping over to them.

"Elecmon, thank goodness you're back!"

"That thing is making a mess of the entire village!"

Elecmon's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, I've noticed. Where is he now?"

Davis felt the need to ask. "Ok, just checking to make sure, but we are considering this Love Machine thing to be a 'he', right?"

The others ignored him as one of the In-Training Digimon used their ears to point in the right direction. "He's over that way. He's terrorizing a bunch of Baby Digimon."

Davis' eyes narrowed, his earlier question forgotten. "All right, lets go. We'll teach this guy a lesson he won't forget."

Following the In-Training Digimon's lead, they were brought to a clearing where they stopped dead. A group of Baby Digimon were running back and forth as something chased them, arms out to grab the ones in the back.

"Hey, leave them alone!" Yolei shouted.

The creature stopped, allowing the Baby Digimon to get away, and turned to them. For the most part, it seemed to resemble a human child no older than Cody trying to cosplay as Mickey Mouse. It wore a blue cape with red stars, and ordinary clothes that consisted of a green and white striped shirt, tan pants, and brown shoes. Large black Mickey Mouse ears stuck out from the top of his head, surrounded by a crop of brown hair. Its face was completely gray aside from the red heart mark on its forehead, and it had a pair of oval shaped eyes and a large demented grin consisting of large, white, sharp teeth.

The creature surveyed them for a few moments before laughing wickedly.  _"Tee, hee, hee!"_

TK blinked. "That's Love Machine?"

Elecmon's fur was standing on end as he glared at the creature. "That's him alright. His second form anyway. He's the one causing all the trouble."

The others stared at the creature for a few moments before Armadillomon said what was on everyone's mind. "I expected him to be a bit more… well, you know, more."

"Me too," Ken agreed. "He just looks like some punk kid. Aside from that creepy smile on his face, he doesn't seem too bad."

As if he overheard them, and was determine to prove otherwise, Love Machine walked forward a few steps and picked up a Digi-Egg. The DigiDestined were instantly at the ready.

"Put it down," Yolei demanded.

Love Machine didn't move for a few seconds before, quick as lightning, he opened his mouth and swallowed the egg whole.  _"Tee, hee, hee."_

The DigiDestined gasped in shock, Kari's hand covered her mouth. "He actually ate it! He just swallowed it whole!"

"I told you!" Elecmon seethed. "And he's been doing the same to the Baby and In-Training Digimon that he catches. Look, he's doing it again!"

The very same Digi-Egg he had just eaten reappeared, and Love Machine ate it all over again.

"Hey, cut it out!" Gatomon shouted.

Veemon's hands clenched. "Right, that does it!" He charged at Love Machine.  _"Vee Punch!"_

His fist slammed into the creature's face, sending him flying backwards. The Digimon he had been chasing cheered, but Love Machine kicked off the wall he was about to crash into, flying back towards Veemon and delivering his own punch, sending the blue Digimon crashing into Davis.

"Oww!" Davis cried as he was knocked off his feet. "You ok, Veemon?"

His partner sat up, his hand going to his swollen cheek. "Boy, that guy really packs a punch."

"Then lets teach him some manners," Hawkmon suggested.  _"Feather Strike!"_

Patamon and Wormmon unleashed their own attacks.  _"Boom Bubble!"_

" _Sticky Net!"_

Love Machine did a series of backflips to avoid the attacks, still wearing that eerie grin that seemed to be permanently plastered on his face.

Armadillomon and Gatomon attacked as well.  _"Diamond Shell!"_

" _Lightning Claw!"_

As Armadillomon's curled up body flew at him, Love Machine jumped up and did a roundhouse kick, knocking him back to the others. And as Gatomon rushed towards him with her electrified claw, he reached out to grab her paw, spun her around, and threw her back to the others as well.

Kari winced for her Digimon. "You ok, Gatomon?"

Getting up, the cat Digimon dusted herself off and glared at the creature. "Careful, he's tougher than he looks."

"I'll show him tough!" Elecmon snapped.  _"Super Thunder Strike!"_

Love Machine jumped up to avoid the attack. While he was in the air, he unleashed his own electric attack that looked remarkably similar to Elecmon's. The rabbit Digimon gasped in surprise as Love Machine's attack found its target, and Elecmon yelped as he was shocked.

"Hold up!" Yolei cried. "Did he just copy Elecmon's attack?"

Charbroiled, Elecmon breathed out a puff of smoke. "Yeah, I forgot to mention that he could do that."

Love Machine snickered at that, sounding very much like a sneaky weasel.

"Well, this changes things," said Cody. "Better not to take any chances."

"Yeah," Davis agreed, "better have our Digimon Digivolve."

"Well then in that case," said Veemon.  _"Veemon Digivolve to… ExVeemon!"_

" _Wormmon Digivolve to… Stingmon!"_

" _Armadillomon Digivolve to… Ankylomon!"_

" _Hawkmon Digivolve to… Aquilamon!"_

" _Patamon Digivolve to… Angemon!"_

" _Gatomon Digivolve to… Angewomon!"_

"All right," said Davis, "now we'll get some results. You see this, Love Machine?" He motioned towards the five Champions and Ultimate level Digimon. "This is what you're dealing with. You sure you don't just want to surrender?"

Love Machine cocked his head to the side, then snickered again.

"Is laughing like that the only thing he can do?" Stingmon wondered out loud.

"He won't be laughing for long," ExVeemon assured him.  _"Vee-Laser!"_

Love Machine did a cartwheel to the side to avoid the attack, then rushed at ExVeemon, doing a head-butt right into his gut, knocking the wind out of him, then charged at Stingmon.

" _Spiking Strike!"_

Love Machine maneuvered around the stabbing spike and jumped up, his fist colliding with Stingmon's chin.

"Fast little sucker, isn't he?" Angemon observed.

He brought his  _Angel Rod_  down to strike the creature, but Love Machine jumped up. Landing on Angemon's staff, he ran up the length of it. Holding his hand over his head, he created a staff of his own that resembled a fancy key, and used it to whack the angel Digimon on the side of the head, knocking him away.

Aquilamon came in from up above, snatching up Love Machine. "Got you now."

A distance away, Ankylomon waved his deadly tail. "Over here! Let me have him!"

As Aquilamon flew towards him, Love Machine used his hand like a spear. The illusion of Stingmon's  _Spiking Strike_  appeared around it as he copied the attack, stabbing Aquilamon's talon.

The hawk Digimon cried out and dropped him. Love Machine did a flip in the air until he faced Ankylomon, then fired a  _Vee-Laser_  at him. The dinosaur Digimon cried out in surprise as the attack blasted him backwards.

Love Machine landed on his feet and turned towards Angewomon, throwing his key-staff at her. It hit her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her, before flying back towards its owner.

Love Machine caught it and glanced at the surprised looks on the DigiDestined's faces. Snickering, he took off, speeding away from Primary Village. Angewomon fired a  _Celestial Arrow_ after him, but missed.

"Hey, get back here!" Davis shouted.

"Come on, guys," Cody insisted, "we have to catch him!"

That was much easier said than done. Love Machine was very fast, much faster than they were, even when the Digimon picked up their human partners in order to pursue him. He even stopped to mockingly wait for them to catch up before taking off again.

"How can something so small be so fast?" TK wondered from on top of Angemon's shoulder.

"Ever try and catch a cockroach?" Davis asked. "Those things are small, but really fast. This little pest is just like them."

They continued their pursuit, eventually reaching the shoreline to the ocean. Love Machine was waiting for them by the water's edge. He placed his hand in front of his face, his thumb against his small black nose, and twiddled his fingers in a rude gesture, then sped off again. He ran right on top of the water in a very cartoon fashion, kicking up waves as he disappeared out into the ocean. The DigiDestined came to a stop by the water's edge, starring dumbly out at the sea.

"Um, did you just see that?" Yolei asked.

"Sure did," said Cody. "He must be going super fast to be able to run on water like that."

"So what now?" ExVeemon asked. "We chased him out of Primary Village. You want to just let him go?"

"I don't think that's good enough," Angewomon replied. "He could still cause trouble elsewhere. We can't have something going around eating Digimon simply for the heck of it."

"And he can even come back to the village whenever he wants with the way he can run across water like that," Ken pointed out. "We need to find out what he is and where he came from."

"Allow me to assist you."

They turned to see that Elecmon had caught up to them.

"You got a plan to get us across the ocean real fast?" Davis asked.

Elecmon smirked. "Sure do." He tapped the ground with his foot. "As you may or may not know, File Island is filled with black gears. There's a reason for that. File Island comes apart in order to take the reborn Digimon to other landmasses in the Digital World."

"Hey, I remember that!" TK exclaimed. "Devimon tried to separate us by splitting the island apart."

Elecmon nodded. "Yes, that's what the black gears are actually for. Devimon found a way to control them and was abusing their power. It put the island out of commission for some time, but it's been up and running again for a while now."

"That's cool," said Cody. "So portions of the island act as boats, that's why it's full of black gears. Once the piece drops the Digimon off somewhere else, it comes back here."

Elecmon nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."

"That's pretty cool," said Davis. "So how do we make it go?"

Smiling, Elecmon went over to a tree by the waterside and pulled down one of the branches as if it were a leaver. He quickly hurried away as the ground rumbled. The portion the DigiDestined were on separated from the rest of File Island and began drifting out into the ocean.

"Have a good trip!" Elecmon called to them, waving to them. "Good luck!"

"Thanks, Elecmon!" Kari shouted, waving back.

As File Island got smaller and smaller, there was nothing left for the DigiDestined to do but sit down and wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: So how'd you like that? I mentioned something about it last chapter. I always wondered why there were black gears inside File Island. When Devimon separated it, it made sense to me that the different pieces of the island act as a means to transport reborn Digimon to the rest of the World. After all, not all Digimon can swim or fly, and with Primary Village being the place where all Digimon start over when they die, they most would need a way to get off the island once they were strong enough to make it on their own. Anyway, how was the first encounter with Love Machine? I thought that since he didn't have any attacks himself, I'd give him the ability to copy the attacks of others. And now that he's off File Island, there's a whole new world for him to explore. You'll have to stay tuned to see what happens next. I promise the chapters will get better and longer, we're just starting off now. This chapter and the next one were originally going to be one single chapter, but, I felt it was becoming too long, so I found a good place to end it and split the chapter into two.)


	3. Upgrade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: Phew, close call. My Internet wasn't working yesterday and I couldn't figure out why. Turned out some maintenance was being done close by and it was knocking out why Internet. I didn't know if it would be back in time, but it's working now. This chapter and last were originally going to be one, but due to how long it was turning out, I decided to split it into two. So instead, I found a good place to stop last time and ended it there.)
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**Chapter 3: Upgrade**

The journey was a lot faster than it would have been had they flown across the ocean, though not quite as fast as Love Machine had been when he raced across the water's surface. To pass the time, they exchanged theories on who and what Love Machine actually was, the most ridiculous being Davis' opinion that the creature was actually an alien from outer space in the Digital World.

"Land ho!" ExVeemon suddenly cried.

They looked to where he was pointing, and saw the horizon line of the continent. They waited in anticipation as their little piece of land continued its journey across the ocean.

When at last they reached the mainland, their bit of land connected to it like a puzzle piece. The DigiDestined hopped off, and Angemon pushed up the branch-lever on the tree. There was the sound of the black gears inside it turning in reverse, and the portion of File Island they had rode in on drifted back out sea, returning to the whole.

"You know," said Cody, "I always wondered how the Digimon that couldn't fly got off File Island after they were reborn. I guess this answers that."

"Yeah, great," Yolei muttered. "Now if only we could find Love Machine just as easily."

Aquilamon looked around. "Well, if he did come here, he probably went in there."

He nodded his head towards the trees that led into the forest before them. If Love Machine really had gone in there, it would be next to impossible to find him. He was already a lot faster than them, and had gotten a big head start. Now he had an entire forest to hide in, and it didn't seem likely that they would find him any time soon.

"You think we should split up?" Davis asked.

"I don't think that's a good idea," said Ken. "It's probably going to take all of us to beat him."

"I agree," said Cody. "We don't know what that thing is capable of. He was only playing with us before."

"And that ability to copy our attacks is concerning," Kari added.

Davis was convinced. "Yeah, we better stick together… But can we take a bit of a pit stop first? I gotta take a leak."

The girls groaned.

"Thanks for the details," Yolei muttered.

"Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go. And there was nowhere to go on our land-boat thing without being seen."

"Just go!"

Grinning, he rushed behind some trees and over to a bush. A sigh of relief escaped him as he relieved himself. But the content look on his face soon became one of puzzlement as the bush began to tremble.

"Hmm?" he muttered, leaning closer.

Numerous red-eyed grayish-blue heads came hopping out of the bush, knocking Davis over as they trampled over him.

His startled cry alerted the others, and they came rushing over to find their so-called leader lying on the ground with his fly open and a bunch of bouncing heads jumping all over him.

"Looks like Davis found a group of Pagumon," Stingmon noted.

The In-Training Digimon turned their attention to them. "Look, it's the DigiDestined!" one cried, and they all hopped over to them, chanting, "Help us! Help us!"

"Whoa, settle down, guys," TK told them. "What's going on?"

"Please, help us, DigiDestined!" a Pagumon begged. "There's this really nasty fellow that's causing trouble in our area!"

The DigiDestined and their Digimon shared a look, each wondering the same thing. If this was indeed Love Machine, then he sure hadn't wasted any time causing trouble again the minute he reached dry land.

"What kind of nasty fellow?" ExVeemon asked.

"We don't know," a Pagumon said. "He just showed up about a half hour ago and began eating us. He already swallowed several of our friends whole."

Another look was shared. That pretty much confirmed who the troublemaker was.

"Swallowing them whole, huh?" Yolei muttered.

"And showed up about half an hour ago," Kari added.

Ken quickly did some quickly mental calculations. "Based on how long it took us to get here, and how fast Love Machine was going compared to us, I'd say the timing matches up pretty well."

Davis got to his feet, rubbing his head. "Sounds like it's our guy."

Yolei and Kari gasped and looked away, blushing in embarrassment.

Davis blinked. "What?"

Ken pinched the bridge of his nose, looking embarrassed for him. "Um, Davis, X, Y, Z."

"Huh?"

"Your fly is open," TK grumbled.

Looking down, Davis yelped and quickly fixed the problem. The Pagumon were staring him with hooded eyes and sweat-drops running down their heads. They turned their attention back to the other DigiDestined and resumed their begging.

"You've got to help us, DigiDestined," a Pagumon pleaded. "That's your job, right?"

"And don't forget that you owe us for helping you find your friend Tokomon, remember?"

TK blinked as he remembered back to four years ago. "Hey, wait a minute, are you the group of Pagumon that captured all those Koromon and took over their village?"

The Pagumon suddenly looked like deer caught in a pair of headlights. The one that had slipped up used his ears to cover his mouth, looking both nervous and apologetically at the rest of his kind as they glared at him, one even smacking him over the head.

"Come to think of it," TK continued, "you guys were the ones who tied up and kidnapped Tokomon to begin with."

The Pagumon grinned nervously. "Oh, come on, you're not still sore about that, are you?"

"Yeah, that was a long time ago. Things are different now."

"Lets let bygones be bygones."

"You know what they say, forgive and forget."

At the unconvinced looks on the DigiDestined's faces, the Pagumon became desperate. "Oh, come on! You can't just let that thing eat us!"

"Yeah, cut us a break already! We were just following orders!"

When they received the same narrow eyed looks, they started panicking. "Come on, what do you want from us?"

"A sincere apology would be a good start," Angewomon replied dryly.

"We're sorry! We're sorry! Now please help us!"

The DigiDestined dropped their unforgiving act.

"Ok," said Kari, "lead the way."

The Pagumon led the DigiDestined through the forest. After their deceit and treachery in the past, it had occurred to them that the In-Training Digimon may be planning on turning on them again, but they dismissed the thought since they had a common enemy.

Following the bouncing heads, they were led to a clearing, and sure enough, there was Love Machine. But he wasn't alone. A yellow dog Digimon that looked like it belonged in an old cartoon was with him, the two staring each other down.

"You think you can just trespass on  _my_  turf and cause trouble," the dog Digimon was saying.

Love Machine simply cocked his head to the side and snickered.

"Who's that?" Davis asked.

"That's Doggymon," a Pagumon replied, now looking smug. "He's our new boss."

"Yeah," said another, "he went looking for that thing a little while ago."

"And now that he's found him, he'll teach him a lesson. Guess we don't need you guy's after all."

Doggymon gave Love Machine an arrogant grin. "You made a big mistake in messing with me, pal. Now it's time for you to pay the-"

Love Machine's mouth suddenly opened impossibly wide as he chomped down on Doggymon's upper body. Throwing his head back, he gulped down the Champion level Digimon's body and swallowed him whole.

The Pagumon were stunned into silence at witnessing their boss so easily defeated. As Love Machine turned his attention to them, they turned around and fled, leaving the DigiDestined to deal with the ever-grinning creature.

Love Machine snickered once more, and his entire body became pixelated, his features distorting. The data particles expanded outward and rematerialized into a new body.

Love Machine stood transformed. No longer looking like a schoolboy with Mickey Mouse ears, he now resembled a mighty amazon warrior with bulging muscles and blue markings covering his shirtless body and what seemed to be a halo that resembled a sun on his back with what seemed to be different faces along the edge. His staff had changed too, going from resembling a key to being a thin metal pole with three curved claws on both ends, but he still hand a ring of keys attached to his hip. He now wore a strange form of headgear that resembled a very fancy Viking helmet, and he still had the same demented grin on his face as before, only now it looked much more sinister.

The DigiDestined stared at this newly transformed version of Love Machine with feelings of unease.

"Whoa, did you see that?" Davis rhetorically asked. "It was like he Digivolved."

"Elecmon mentioned this," Cody reminded them. "He said Love Machine went through a process similar to Digivolution. This must have been what he meant."

Love Machine struck a fighting pose and held out his hand, motioning for them to come at him. It seemed that the running game was over, now he wanted to fight.

"He can't be that much stronger," ExVeemon insisted.

He flew at Love Machine. Though the creature was now nearly three times as tall as he was before, he still only came up to ExVeemon's chest. As the blue Digimon threw a punch, Love Machine jumped up to avoid the hit. As he came down, he slammed his staff over ExVeemon's head, causing his eyes to bug out from the blow. Spinning around, he kicked ExVeemon in the side of the head, sending him crashing into the trees.

Landing, he rushed at the DigiDestined, seemingly going after the Ankylomon. Instead, at the last moment, he used his staff to pole volt over him and kick Aquilamon out of the air. Leaving his staff stabbed in the ground, he whirled around and grabbed Ankylomon's tail. He threw him over his head so the dinosaur Digimon crashed onto his back, then spun him around to smack him into Stingmon, who had been going in for an attack. Angemon flew at him, bringing down his staff. Love Machine grabbed his own staff and blocked the blow.

" _Celestial Arrow!"_  Angewomon cried, firing an arrow of light.

Love Machine leapt back from the arrow's path, and turned to face her, firing a  _Vee-Laser_ , blasting her out of the sky, then turned to Angemon and shot his own  _Celestial Arrow_. Angemon knocked it away with his staff, and retaliated with his  _Hand of Fate_. Love Machine jumped away and unleashed Elecmon's  _Super Thunder Strike_ , electrifying the angel Digimon.

Turning to the DigiDestined, he twirled his staff over his head and stomped it on the ground. Pointing at them, he curled his finger, beckoning them towards him.

"Is he mocking us?" Davis demanded.

"It's like this whole thing is just a game to him," Ken noted. He took a step forward. "What do you want?"

Love Machine stared at him for a moment before suddenly rushing forward. Raising his staff, he moved to strike him. ExVeemon suddenly tackled the creature from the side, landing on top of him and pinning him to the ground.

"Talking to this guy is pointless," he growled. "We've got to take him down."

Love Machine's knee suddenly slammed into ExVeemon's stomach, knocking the wind out of him and allowing Love Machine to crawl out from beneath his body.

Stingmon went in for an attack.  _"Spiking Strike!"_

Love Machine held up his hand, and Stingmon's spike stabbed his open palm. The attack was successfully held back somehow, and Love Machine used his other hand to deliver an uppercut to the insect Digimon.

"That's it!" Ankylomon growled, swinging his tail around.  _"Tail Hammer!"_

Still keeping hold of Stingmon's spike, Love Machine used his other hand to block the blow. Angewomon flew in for an attack, and Love Machine jumped straight up. This was what Angewomon had been hoping for, and she unleashed her attack without worrying about her companions getting caught in the crossfire.

" _Heaven's Charm!"_

Firing her cross-shaped ray of energy, she was surprised to have the same attack fired back at her, the two attacks canceling each other out. Love Machine attacked again right away, firing Angemon's  _Hand of Fate_  at her, blasting her out of the sky.

ExVeemon flew up and caught her before she hit the ground. "You ok?"

"Yeah, thanks." She looked at Love Machine. "How can we defeat him if he can use our own attacks against us?"

ExVeemon set her down. "We'll just use attacks he hasn't seen yet." He flew at Love Machine.  _"Critical Crunch!"_

His mouth opened wide to bite, and Love Machine held up his staff. ExVeemon's jaws clamped down on it tightly, but he was held back.

"' _Ee-'Aser!"_

Love Machine leaned back so the attack passed over him, then kicked upward, slamming his foot into ExVeemon's gut. Pulling his staff from the blue Digimon's mouth, he whacked him with it.

" _Moon Shooter!"_  Stingmon cried, firing a huge needle.

Love Machine turned to him and knocked the needle away with his staff. Then he pointed at him and fired Angewomon's  _Celestial Arrow_. Stingmon just managed to dodge in time, but then had Love Machine rush at him while copying his  _Spiking Strike_.

Stingmon blocked the attack with his own spike, then began spinning around and kicking out.  _"Spinning Spiking Strike!"_

Love Machine moved back, dodging the blades of wind. Angemon flew towards him and fired a  _Hand of Fate_. Love Machine swerved to the side to avoid it and unleashed Elecmon's  _Super Thunder Strike_ , but Angemon deflected the attack with his  _Angel Staff_. After a few moments, he and the others realized Love Machine was floating in the air. Even though he didn't have any wings, he was somehow still able to fly in this form, or perhaps he even learned it from them.

"He can learn our Digimon's attacks just by watching them be performed," Cody exclaimed. "We're just helping him to get stronger."

"Well, what else can we do?" Yolei demanded. "We have to attack in order to defeat him."

Aquilamon considered this. "Then lets try confusing his senses.  _Wave Laser!"_

He unleashed sound waves that caused confusion. Love Machine turned to him and cringed, one hand going to his head as if he were disorientated.

"Great job," said Angemon, flying towards him. "Now lets get him."

He prepared to throw a punch, but Love Machine suddenly reacted. Swinging his staff, an iron ball appeared at the end of it as he copied Ankylomon's  _Tail Hammer_. It seemed Love Machine had pulled a fast one on them by feigning confusion, that or he had quickly adapted to fight off the effects of Aquilamon's attack. In any case, it allowed him to land a direct hit on Angemon, his attack striking the side of his head. Angemon's helmet did little to shield him against the blow, and as the spiny iron ball disappeared from the end of Love Machine's staff, Angemon fell from the sky, DeDigivolving back down to Patamon with a bad concussion.

"Oh no, Patamon!" TK cried, rushing forward to catch his friend. "Are you ok? Speak to me!"

But Patamon was out cold. Up in the sky, Love Machine stared down at the two of them curiously, and Aquilamon used the opportunity to unleash his  _Grand Horn_  attack.

Love Machine did a flip in mid-air, avoiding the attack, and fired a  _Vee-Laser_ , striking Aquilamon from behind, earning him a cry from the hawk Digimon. He then flew at him, curling up his body to copy Armadillomon's  _Diamond Shell_.

Plowing into Aquilamon, they both crashed to the ground, the latter crushed beneath Love Machine. Raising his hand, electricity formed in his palm, and he struck with Gatomon's  _Lightning Claw._  Aquilamon cried out and DeDigivolved down to Poromon.

"Stop hurting my friends!" Ankylomon shouted, charging at Love Machine.

Jumping up, Love Machine landed on Ankylomon's back. Spinning his staff around, he brought it down, whacking the dinosaur Digimon over the head. Ankylomon swung his tail in a circle to knock him off his back, but Love Machine took to the air. He dropped back down, punching into Ankylomon's side while unleashing Angemon's  _Hand of Fate_. Dropping to his stomach, the dinosaur Digimon DeDigivolved down to Upamon.

"We're dropping like flies," said ExVeemon. He glanced at Stingmon. "No offense."

"None taken. Lets try some DNA Digivolution."

"Sounds good to me."

"ExVeemon/ _Stingmon_   _ **DNA**_ _Digivolve to… Paildramon!"_

This new Digivolution of two Digimon becoming one caught Love Machine's interest, and he stared at the new Digimon curiously. Angewomon came up beside her fused friend, ready to fight.

"Lets see how he does against two Ultimates," she said.

Love Machine cocked his head to the side, and then, in a very Spiderman fashion, raised his hand and shot Wormmon's  _Sticky Net_. Paildramon and Angewomon easily avoided the attack, but as the end of the web stuck to a tree, Love Machine used the leverage to propel himself towards them.

Angewomon flew out of the way, but Paildramon extended the spikes on his wrists into lances.  _"Sting Strike!"_

Love Machine blocked with his staff and began spinning around to unleash Stingmon's  _Spinning Spiking Strike_ , sending out blades of wind.

" _Celestial Arrow!"_  Angewomon cried.

Love Machine's kicking legs knocked away the arrow, one of his feet striking Paildramon in the head. Kicking off the dragon Digimon, he sped towards Angewomon.

" _Cable Catcher!"_  Paildramon cried, firing his claws after him.

The wires wrapped around Love Machine's lower body, pulling him away from Angewomon before he could strike her with his staff.

" _Desperado Blaster!"_

Turning to face Paildramon, Love Machine began twirling his staff around, imitating Angemon's  _Angel Staff_  to deflect the barrage of bullets. With his back turned to her, Angewomon made her move.

" _Heaven's Charm!"_

The attack hit Love Machine in the back. Turning to her, he reached down and grabbed the wires wrapped around his lower body and pulled. Paildramon was yanked along with them and swung into Angewomon, crashing into her. Love Machine kicked the wires off his leg and flew towards them, copying Aquilamon's  _Grand Horn_  attack.

He crashed into Angewomon, knocking her from the sky, then took aim at her failing form and shot one of her own  _Celestial Arrows_  at her. The arrow of light pierced her left shoulder, and she cried out before hitting the ground.

"Leave her alone!" Paildramon shouted.  _"Electric Bolt!"_

Love Machine whirled around and threw his staff. It soared towards Paildramon, absorbing the bolts of electricity he had just thrown, acting as a conductor. The staff hit him in the gut, making him groan from the strength it had been thrown with.

Turning back to Angewomon, Love Machine fired the  _Electric Bolt_  attack he had just learned at her. She raised her hand in an instinctual attempt to block, but it did no good. Unable to hold her Ultimate form, she dropped down to Gatomon.

Now it was just the two of them, Paildramon and Love Machine. The former began firing his  _Desperado Blaster_  attack while Love Machine flew towards him, maneuvering around the spray of bullets. When he was right in front of them, he buried his fist in Paildramon's gut while simultaneously unleashing Angemon's  _Hand of Fate_  attack.

Heavily damaged and clutching his stomach, Paildramon floated away from him. "This guy's just playing around with us. He's even stronger than an Ultimate."

"Then just Digivolve!" Davis called up to him.

"Right," the dragon Digimon agreed. "Here we go.  _Paildramon_ _ **Mega**_ _Digivolve to…"_

It had been an unspoken rule since the beginning of time in the Digital World that when a Digimon was Digivolving that you were to let them finish the process. To interrupt was considered a weak and cowardly thing to do that only the lowest of the low that lacked all honor would do. The only time the DigiDestined had ever seen another Digimon attack during a Digivolution was during the battle with Infermon four years ago, who, apparently, hadn't gotten the memo since his very recent birth.

It seemed that Love Machine hadn't been informed of this either, and so he raced towards Paildramon while he was in mid-Digivolution. His staff flew into his hand again, and he swung it at Paildramon. The light of Digivolution vanished as the staff struck him, sending Paildramon spinning through the air.

"Hey!" Davis cried. "That's cheating!"

Love Machine ignored him as he fired Angewomon's  _Heaven's Charm_  attack. Paildramon cried out as he was blasted from the sky. Groaning, he looked up at Love Machine from within his crater, but couldn't find the strength to move.

Love Machine pointed his index fingers at him with his thumbs extended in a childish imitation of a pair of guns. Paildramon's eyes widened in realization of what he was about to do.

"Oh no…."

Copying the dragon Digimon's  _Desperado Blaster_ , Love Machine fired a stream of bullets that tore straight through the ground as they rained down upon Paildramon, stirring up a large dust cloud. And when he finally stopped his attack and let the dust settle, Paildramon was gone, and DemiVeemon and Minomon were in his place.

The DigiDestined looked on in shock.

"He beat them all," said Kari. "I don't believe it, but he actually defeated all our Digimon."

"This isn't good," said Cody. "What are we supposed to do now?"

Love Machine had an idea. Landing beside the crater, he released his staff, letting it stand up straight on its own. He reached down and picked up the two In-Training level Digimon. Holding DemiVemon by the tail, he held him over his head and opened his mouth.

"Noooo!" Davis shouted. "Let him go!"

Love Machine merely glanced at him before turning his attention back to DemiVeemon and began to lower him into his mouth.

"Attack!"

From out of the trees, the Pagumon rained down upon Love Machine, hoping to get him while he was distracted. They batted him with their ears and bit him, some unleashing their  _Bubble Blow_  attacks.

Love Machine's attention shifted to them and their futile attacks. He uncaringly tossed Minomon and DemiVeemon aside and grabbed his staff. The Pagumon continued to "attack" him, so focused on releasing their wrath that they didn't seem to notice that Love Machine was completely unaffected.

"Keep it up, guys!" a Pagumon shouted. "He can't even move! We've got him on the run! He's-"

Love Machine began twirling his staff all around his body like an expert cheerleader with a baton or a professional sign spinner. The Pagumon froze, and then, all at once, burst into data.

Kari gasped, her hands going to her mouth. "He destroyed them. He destroyed them all."

Love Machine returned his attention to the two In-Training Digimon he had discarded, only to find Ken and Davis crouched down beside him, each holding their Digimon partner. At having been spotted, they gave him a guilty grin and hurried back to their friends.

"That was a close one," said Davis.

"What do we do now?" asked Yolei.

Cody held Upamon tightly. "We have all our Digimon, lets retreat and regroup for now."

"Good plan," TK agreed. "We know too little about this thing. Lets see what Izzy came up with and come back when our Digimon have recovered their strength."

There were no arguments, and they quickly hurried away. Love Machine just watched them leave and decided not to pursue them. After all, when he let King Kazma retreat, he had come back even stronger and more entertaining. This group had proved to be most amusing, and maybe they too would return as a more worthy challenge. Besides, he had a whole new world to explore in the meantime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: Trouble is a brewing. Love Machine has already proved to be powerful, and now he's able to learn their attacks. Kind of makes it hard to fight when your own attacks are used against you. And he's getting stronger with the more data he consumes. They should have just gone all out on him when they first met. I never got that. Why wouldn't you just take out your enemy instead of holding back? It gives them a chance to prevail. I also always wondered why no one ever attacks while their enemy is Digivolving. Only Infer has ever done that, so I provided a reason why. Next chapter we'll be getting some answers on how Love Machine came to the Digital World.)


	4. Beyond Worlds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: I don't have much to say today except thanks to my reviewers and readers. This chapter reveals Love Machine's past, for those of you that don't know it, and how he ended up in the Digital World. If you want more information on him, I suggest Wikipedia.)
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**Chapter 4: Beyond Worlds**

It was a relief to be back in the real world. Truthfully, they were somewhat surprised that Love Machine hadn't chased after them. The fact that he hadn't was rather concerning; it meant that he didn't see them as enough of a threat to bother with them.

"I'm telling you," said TK, "we've never encountered anything like this thing before. All he had to do was watch our Digimon perform an attack, and he instantly learned it."

Izzy tapped his chin. "This is rather worrisome. He must be programmed to learn. Perhaps he's able to read the flow of data when a Digimon attacks and is able to duplicate the process."

Davis blinked. "He's doing the process of what now?"

Izzy rolled his eyes and ignored him. "Gennai and I were monitoring your battle. It seems that Love Machine was indeed playing with you. He's actually quite powerful."

He clicked on the computer, bringing up three different images on screen. The first was the image of Love Machine as a jack-in-the-box creature from when he first appeared in Primary Village, the second of his demented Mickey Mouse form they had first seen him in, and the third was his current form.

A fourth image popped up shortly after containing Gennai, who seemed to be able to see and interact with the other images.  _"His first form seems to be equivalent to that of an In-Training level Digimon, while his second form is as strong as a high-powered Champion."_

The DigiDestined looked at the demented Mickey Mouse. It certainly didn't look like it was on par with a Champion, nor had it acted like it.

" _His current form,"_  Gennai continued,  _"has the strength of a Mega. We estimate his power to be somewhere between Piedmon and Diaboromon's level of strength. And he's getting stronger with the more data he consumes."_

"Add onto that his ability to copy and learn attacks, and he's truly a force to be reckoned with," Izzy pointed out.

" _Yes, there's that as well. It seems he can also learn the attacks of the Digimon he consumes as well. I'm afraid this guy is just going to keep getting stronger and stronger."_

Cody's fists clenched. "This is ridiculous! Just what is this thing? Where did it come from?"

"It's an A.I." Izzy replied. "An artificial intelligence. At least that's what it started out as. It seems to have grown and evolved from its original programming. Actually," he began going through some files on his computer, "that  _is_  what its programmed for; to learn and adapt, but it does it at such an exponential rate that it surpasses even a Digimon's capability."

"Wow," Yolei muttered. "Sounds like some science project gone wrong."

"Isn't that what happened with Diaboromon?" Davis asked.

Izzy brought up Diaboromon's file. "Not quite. When Willis created Diaboromon's Digi-Egg, it was pretty much a blank slate until it was attacked by a computer virus and mutated. Love Machine was created for a specific purpose, but due to his programming to learn and advance, he evolved into a creature similar to a Digimon."

"But how'd it get to the Digital World?" Kari asked. "Even when Diaboromon was created, he was still stuck on the internet. So were all the Kuramon he created until he sent them out into the real world through e-mails."

" _Yes,"_  said Gennai, _"well, it turns out that Love Machine actually originated from another dimension."_

"Another dimension?" TK repeated. "What do you mean?"

"You actually came up with the theory," Izzy told him. "I believe you described it like this." Bringing up a blank page on the screen, he drew lines of different colors parallel to one another. "Each one of these lines is a different reality, or an alternate dimension if you prefer. The Digital World is all one dimension, but made up of multiple layers, each layer connecting to a different reality of the real world."

"I remember what this is about," said Patamon. "This was when we had to figure out the right order of cards in order to open the right door to the human world after Myotismon went through."

"Exactly," Izzy replied. "Love Machine is from one of these alternate dimensions."

Davis looked at DemiVeemon. "We went to one of those dimensions with Tai and Agumon to help defeat Quartzmon, remember? We also met the DigiDestined from four different dimensions that had joined the fight as well. Is Love Machine from one of their dimensions? Maybe we can get in contact with the DigiDestined from one of those realities."

" _I'm afraid that won't do you any good,"_  Gennai replied.  _"The version of the Human World that Love Machine came from is one where the Digital World hasn't even been discovered yet, so there aren't any DigiDestined there to help us."_

"So then how did you find all this out?" Ken asked curiously.

"It wasn't us," Izzy told him. "It was actually BlackWarGreymon that discovered it."

There were exclaims of "What?" from all around.

"BlackWarGreymon?" Upamon repeated. "You mean the one that Arukenimon created out of 100 Control Spires?"

"Do we know any others?" Gatomon asked rhetorically.

"Well," said Izzy, "there are other BlackWarGreymon throughout the Digital World, but yes, the one I'm referring to was the one Arukenimon created."

"But that doesn't make any sense," said Yolei. "He was destroyed by Owikawa while he was under the control of MaloMyotismon."

Cody nodded. "Yeah, then he used his body to seal that one entrance between the real world and the Digital World."

" _You're both right,"_  Gennai told them.  _"And since he was an artificial Digimon created from Control Spires, he should have just disappeared completely after he died. But unlike the others Arukenimon created, he possessed a true soul. After he used his body to seal the doorway, his spirit returned. He may not have a physical form any longer, but he now acts as a guardian between the worlds. This seemed to have happened when he used his body to seal up the gate."_

There was a few moments of silence that was eventually broken by TK. "Wow, I guess he found his true purpose after all."

"It was his role as guardian that allowed him to trace Love Machine's origins and discover all this information about him," Izzy explained. "Apparently, after Love Machine's creation, the people his programming had sold him to decided to try him out by unleashing him on OZ."

"OZ?" Yolei repeated. "As in  _The Wizard Of_ …?"

Izzy shook his head. "No, not that. OZ is sort of a massive interactive computer-simulated virtual reality world system server from Love Machine's dimension that connected all online accounts to one source. But with Love Machine running through it freely, he began hacking and taking over numerous accounts, gaining complete control."

"I don't get it," said Davis.

"Shocker," Yolei muttered.

"Well," said Izzy, "say you have an online account to handle all your bank affairs. If Love Machine managed to take over that, he'd have full access to all your funds and account information. If he took over the account of the bank itself, he's have access to everyone's accounts that was joined with the bank's. OZ acted as the main base that all accounts all over the world were under. This was how he was able to spread and take over. He even took over several military accounts and tried to start a nuclear holocaust."

"He what?" Kari cried. "For goodness sake, why?"

"It seemed to be one big game to him. Love Machine was never meant to be used in such a way that he could affect real people's lives, so it seemed he had no regard for life at all. I'll bet his buyers regretted setting him loose after that."

"Yeah, no kidding," TK agreed. "So what happened? I assume he was stopped."

Gennai was the one who answered.  _"Yes, according to our information, Love Machine's creator and his family managed to take back the stolen accounts and delete him. Unfortunately, he had evolved enough to become an actual living digital entity rather than just a simple A.I. program."_

"So you're saying he was like a Digimon," Ken theorized. "So when he was destroyed, his data reconfigured just as a Digimon's would."

Izzy nodded. "That's why he appeared in Primary Village; it's the starting point for all Digital life, not just Digimon."

Kari considered all that they learned. "Suddenly this all makes sense. That's how he was able to come to the Digital World without passing through any Digi-Ports."

Davis looked at each of them, completely bewildered. "Hey, what are you guys talking about? I'm still lost."

They ignored him.

"This does pose a problem though," said TK. "Even if we manage to defeat Love Machine, he'll just be reborn in Primary Village once more, and the whole thing will start all over again."

"Yeah," Patamon agreed, "he's not like the bad Digimon we faced. He'll just be able to consume everyone's data like he did before and get as strong as he is now once again just as fast."

Gennai sighed.  _"I'm afraid you're right. He hasn't even been in the Digital World for a day yet, and he's already as strong as a Mega. Destroying him will accomplish nothing if he can completely regain his strength in a matter of hours."_

TK's eyes widened. "Not even our Digimon can regain their strength that fast if they die," he said, recalling how it had taken days for Patamon to reach his Rookie level again after he had sacrifice himself as Angemon to defeat Devimon. And according to Ken, it had also taken several days for Wormmon to regain his Rookie form after his Digi-Egg had hatched.

"We'll have to take it one step at a time," said Cody. "First we'll defeat Love Machine. Once he's reborn, he'll be at his weakest and most vulnerable. Maybe then we'll be able to capture him and lock him up somewhere he can't do any harm."

"Hey," DemiVeemon exclaimed, "Starmon owes us a favor for saving him from the Dark Ring that was on him. Maybe he'll lock Love Machine up in his jail for us."

"Lets just focus on defeating him first," Ken suggested. "Then we'll worry about what to do with him afterwards."

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" said Upamon, hopping up and down. "Lets eat and then rest up. We'll need to be in tiptop shape to beat this guy."

Gennai nodded.  _"Indeed. And I beg you, please hurry. Love Machine is only going to get stronger and cause more trouble. My copies are already reporting that he's being a nuisance."_

DemiVeemon stood up straight and puffed out his chest. "Don't you worry, Gennai. Once we've recovered, we'll teach this guy a thing or two. He'll be sorry he ever came to our world."

Izzy sighed. "I wish the rest of the team was here to help you, but we're all spread out right now."

Davis thumped himself on the chest. "Don't worry, Izzy, we can handle it. He may have gotten the upper hand on us before, but that's because we weren't ready. You just keep doing your monitoring thing and let us handle everything. We'll show Love Machine some Imperialdramon power, and he'll be running for the hills."

"And we'll help, of course," Poromon added.

Upamon nodded. "We might not be able to reach the Mega level, but our DNA Digivolved forms are still nothing to laugh at."

Izzy uncomfortably looked at the image of Love Machine on the screen. "I hope that will be enough. If we don't do something soon, this could very well become the greatest threat the Digital World has ever seen."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: So, now we know where Love Machine came from, and how he got to the Digital World. For those of you that haven't seen "Summer Wars", that's where Love Machine originated from. I wanted to do something with BlackWarGreymon too, he was always one of my favorite characters, and really faced a tragic end. So I made it that, since his body became a barrier between the Real World and the Digital World at one of the gates, his spirit endured, allowing him to act as a guardian. This was how he was able to track down Love Machine's origin. But the problem still remains. Love Machine is getting stronger, learning more moves, and causing havoc throughout the Digital World. They'll have to stop him soon before it's too late.)


	5. Playing Games

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: Time to find out what Love Machine has been up to. Now that the DigiDestined know how dangerous he is, they're going all out. Well, at least with whoever is there. But how much stronger has Love Machine gotten since they last met, and what kind of trouble has he caused since they're last meeting? Lets find out.)
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**Chapter 5: Playing Games**

After eating, followed by a good 6 hour nap, and then some more eating, the Digimon were ready for battle once more. Now all they had to do was track down Love Machine again.

It really wasn't that hard. The A.I. had certainly left a trail easy enough for them to follow. Like a child set loose in a toy store, Love Machine had run amuck in the Digital World. Along with making a mess everywhere he went, he had also consumed anyone who had tried to stand in his way. The only exception was the surviving Black and White versions of PawnChessmon, RookChessmon, BishopChessmon, and KnightChessmon. Apparently, Love Machine had played a game of chess with himself, forcing them to be his pieces, and devouring those he had "taken" on the board. Both the Black and White QueenChessmon had been devoured, and only the White KingChessmon remained due to his side winning.

Upon discovering where the most recent Love Machine activity had been, as was pointed out by an injured TonosamaMamemon, whom the A.I. had used as a soccer ball, the DigiDestined made their way through the Digital World to the location. And from the looks of things, Love Machine had come through not that long ago, which was quickly confirmed by a group of ToyAgumon that Love Machine had used as Legos.

"Hasn't this guy ever heard of destruction of public property?" Davis wondered out loud. "I mean, just look at this mess."

"Don't forget," Ken replied, "he's an A.I. that was meant to exist in cyberspace. Any rules that apply to the physical world don't register to him."

"So there's no talking to him," said Kari. "To him, this is no different than playing virtual games on the internet. I wonder if he evens knows the difference between right and wrong."

Cody thought back to the things they had been told about Love Machine. "If everything is all just one big game to him, I don't even think right and wrong matter to him."

They continue following Love Machine's trail, eventually entering a forest that had several trees uprooted and piled on top of one another to form a type of tower structure. There were several of these towers, each one having collapsed at different heights, as if Love Machine had been playing a game of  _Jenga_  with them.

In the distance, several mountains stood with crude pictures painted on them. How Love Machine had managed to get enough paint in order to paint all over them was anyone's guess. But it was in the next village that they finally found their target.

It seemed that all the residents had fled, and Love Machine had decided to play with their homes as if they were building blocks. Currently, he was stacking individual homes on top of each other, simply to see how high up he could stack them before they topples over.

"Hey, you!" Yolei shouted up at him. "Cut that out!"

Love Machine finished balancing the top house and looked down at them. Dropping from the sky, he landed by the base of the stacked houses and cocked his head to the side curiously.

"Those are people's houses!" Yolei continued. "You have no right to fool around with them like that!"

The A.I. stared at her for a moment before looking up at the tower of houses. He glanced back at her, then back at the tower and slapped his palm against the bottom house, hard. The entire structure wobbled and toppled over. The DigiDestined fled as the tower fell towards them, individual houses smashing to the ground around them.

When the dust settled, TK lowered his hands from his head and looked around. "Hey, everyone ok?"

"Yeah, I'm good!" Davis cried from somewhere among the rubble.

"We're ok over here!" Kari called.

"Cody and I are all right!" came Ken's voice.

A short distance away from TK, Yolei pushed some rubble off of herself and rubbed her head. "I'm fine too. Thank goodness for my helmet."

Crawling over the rubble, they regrouped. Love Machine watched them, still smiling that sinister smile of his.

Veemon growled. "I'd like to smack that smirk off his face."

"You'll get the chance soon enough," said Davis. He looked back at Love Machine. "Unless you plan to surrender."

Love Machine stared at them for a moment before twirling around his staff and pointing it at them.

"I didn't think so," Davis replied. "Ok, pal, get ready for a real challenge." He hesitated for a moment. "And no attacking while their Digivolving! That's cheating!"

In response, Love Machine took a step towards them.

"Hey," TK shouted at him, "don't you want a challenge? It'll make the game more interesting."

Love Machine stopped. He seemed to be considering TK's words, then relaxed his posture and waited.

"Good going, TK," Kari complimented.

Davis cut his eyes at the two of them and mutered, "I could have thought of that…" He turned to Veemon and held up his Digivice. "All right, time to Digivolve."

" _Veemon Digivolve to… ExVeemon!"_

" _Wormmon Digivolve to… Stingmon!"_

" _ExVeemon/_ _Stingmon _…_  _ _ **DNA**_ _Digivolve to… Paildramon! Paildramon_ _ **Mega**_ _Digivolve to… Imperialdramon! Imperialdramon Mode Change to… Imperialdramon Fighter Mode!"_

" _Hawkmon Digivolve to… Aquilamon!"_

_Aquilamon/_ _Gatomon _…_  _ _ **DNA** __Digivolve to… Silphymon!"_

" _Armadillomon Digivolve to… Ankylomon!"_

" _Patamon Digivolve to… Angemon!"_

" _Ankylomon_ / _Angemon _…__   _ **DNA**_ _Digivolve to… Shakkoumon!"_

Where five Rookies and a Champion once stood, there was now a Mega and two Ultimates. Love Machine studied them with interest, especially the large dragon Digimon, and cracked his knuckles. This looked like it was going to be fun.

"All right, guys!" Davis cried. "Go get him!"

"I'll do the honors," said Shakkoumon.  _"Justice Beam!"_

Love Machine jumped back to avoid the attack, and then took off, disappearing into the forest.

"Hey!" Imperialdramon shouted after him. "What gives? Where's he going?"

"He likes games, right?" Silphymon reminded him. "Maybe he's trying to play Tag, or Hide-and-Seek."

"Yeah, a lethal version of it, no doubt," Shakkoumon muttered. "So what now? Do we follow him?"

As the leader of the group, it was up to Davis to make the decision. "We can't let him get away. Silphymon, Shakkoumon, you guys go after him and see if you can flush him out. Imperialdramon, you search overhead and see if you can find him."

"On it/Right/No problem," the three Digimon replied, and the two Ultimates rushed into the forest as Imperialdramon flew above the trees.

Silphymon and Shakkoumon stuck close together so they wouldn't be ambushed. They could hear the sounds of the forest all around them the deeper in they went. Love Machine watched them from behind a tree, wary of Imperialdramon flying up above. He followed close behind, enjoying this game of cat and mouse as he jumped from tree to tree.

"Over there!" Silphymon cried suddenly.  _"Static Force!"_

She threw a ball of energy at a tree, vaporizing it. A scared Numemon stood shaking behind it before letting out a frightened cry and rushing into the bushes.

"Darn it!" Silphymon growled. "This forest is bound to be full of Digimon. How are we supposed to find this guy?"

"Silphymon, look out behind you!" Shakkoumon shouted.

She turned just in time to be blasted back by her own attack. Love Machine immediately took off again, ducking behind the trees as Shakkoumon gave chase.

"You won't get away!  _Kachina Bombs!"_

The explosive clay disks shot out of his waist. Love Machine used the trees for cover as they came at him, striking them with his staff when he was out in the open. Circling around tree, he fired Shakkoumon's own  _Justice Beam_  at the mutant Digimon. Shakkoumon fired the same attack, and the two cancelled each other out as they exploded upon collision. When the smoke cleared, Love Machine was gone again.

"Darn him," Shakkoumon grumbled. "He got away again. Hey, Silphymon, you ok?"

She hopped over to him. "Yeah, I think so. I didn't know my  _Static Force_  packed that much of a punch. Do you think when he copies our attacks that they're even stronger than when we use them?"

"I'm not sure."

A shadow fell over them as Imperialdramon flew overhead. "Everything all right? I saw some explosions."

"We're ok," Silphymon told him. "Love Machine was here, but he ran off again."

Imperialdramon growled irritably. "I wish he'd just fight us already instead of playing these games. We'll keep looking."

He took off to continue his search. Love Machine found it rather amusing as the three of them became frustrated as they tried to find him. Flying through the forest, he maneuvered around the trees as he doubled back towards the Digimon.

Upon entering another treetop, he received a surprise as an angry Kuwagamon that had been sitting in it lashed out at him. Jumping back, he fired Silphymon's  _Static Force_  at it. The Kuwagamon cried out as it was instantly destroyed, but it alerted the others to his presence, and Shakkoumon immediately came over to investigate.

"Who's there?" he demanded. "If you're anyone besides Love Machine, you better tell me now."

Well, there was no reason to disappoint him. Jumping from the treetop, he plowed right into Shakkoumon's chest. The two crashed to the ground, and the mutant Digimon's gaze fixated on Love Machine.

" _Justice Beam!"_

The A.I. jumped off him, avoiding the attack, and floated in the air. He fired a  _Vee-Laser_  down at him, but Silphymon suddenly appeared and threw a  _Static Force_  to block the attack.

Turning to her, he sent out Angewomon's  _Heaven's Charm_  at her, but Shakkoumon jumped in front of the attack, sucking it into his own body and harmlessly releasing it again out of the top of his head. That was something new Love Machine hadn't seen before, and he immediately turned to hurried away.

"Oh no you don't!" Silphymon cried.  _"Astral Laser!"_

She fired a duplicate of her body made entirely out of energy at him, but Love Machine was much faster and avoided the attack. The two Ultimates followed him through the trees as he leapt away.

As he fled, Love Machine turned to face them, and made the hand gesture for a gun. Shakkoumon and Silphymon recognized the attack and split off from each other as the A. I. fired Paildramon's  _Desperado Blaster_  from his fingertips

Avoiding the spray of bullets, Shakkoumon fired his  _Kachina Bombs_. Love Machine immediately began spinning around and kicking to unleash blades of wind as he copied Stingmon's  _Spinning Spiking Strike_. Trees fell all around as the blades of wind cut them down and the clay disks exploded against them.

"I'm here!" Imperialdramon cried, appearing directly over Love Machine and began looking around. "Where is he?"

It was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Love Machine flew up and grasped Imperialdramon by the tail. Showing an enormous display of strength, he pulled the giant dragon Digimon down and slammed him onto a bed of trees.

Imperialdramon blinked in complete bewilderment. "What was that?" Looking up, he saw Love Machine hovering over him. "Why you!  _Positron Laser!"_

Love Machine swayed to the side, allowing the blast of energy to pass him by. He held up his hand and copied Stingmon's  _Moon Shooter_ , firing a large needle out of his open palm. Imperialdramon moved his head to the side as the needle pierced the ground beside his head, nearly getting lobotomized by the attack. Love Machine then flipped him off and dove back down into the sea of trees.

"What a creep," Imperialdramon muttered.

Sitting up, he heard some groans from behind him, and turned to find that he had been laying on Shakkoumon and Silphymon.

"Oh, man, guys, I'm sorry," he told them.

Silphymon sat up, rubbing her head. "Not your fault."

With his back turned, Love Machine took the opportunity to double back once more and come at Imperialdramon from behind. Wielding a large tree he had torn from the ground, he broke it over the back of the dragon Digimon's head, causing him to collapse on top of his friends again.

Rolling over, Imperialdramon looked up, but growled in annoyance when he saw that Love Machine was gone once again. "This guy is really starting to get on my nerves."

There was a rustling from the bushes, and the DigiDestined came out to rejoin their Digimon.

"Oh, good," said Davis, "we finally caught up."

Silphymon gave them a worried look. "What are you guys doing here? It's dangerous."

"Well," TK replied, "that's never stopped us before."

"That's right," Yolei agreed. "We'd never abandon you guys to fight on your own."

"Yeah, but…" Silphymon began.

There was a blur of movement, and suddenly there was one less DigiDestined among them.

"Hey," said Ken, "where's Cody?"

"Guys, up here! A little help!"

Looking up, they saw Love Machine floating high in the air above them, holding their youngest member upside-down by his ankle.

"Get me down from here!" the boy shouted.

"Cody!" Imperialdramon cried. He aimed his  _Positron Laser_  at Love Machine. "Let him go or I'll…"

Love Machine held Cody up in the path of Imperialdramon's attack, daring him to fire. The dragon Digimon growled and lowered his weapon, unwilling to put his friend in danger.

"You big coward!" Davis shouted. "Why don't you fight us fairly?"

"I'll show him fairly," Shakkoumon declared.  _"Kachina Bombs!"_

The clay disks flew up at Love Machine and Cody, but instead of blowing up against either of them, they unexpectedly exploded around the two, blinding them with clouds of smoke. Silphymon came up behind them and threw a  _Static Force_  at the A.I., striking him in the back. He dropped Cody, and Imperialdramon leapt forward to catch him.

Cody blinked when he realized he was still alive and in Imperialdramon's hand. The dragon Digimon was careful to keep Cody safe as he crashed to the ground.

"Imperialdramon!" Cody cried. "You ok?"

The dragon Digimon shook the leaves from his head. "I'll be fine."

He set the boy down by the others, then joined Silphymon and Shakkoumon in the air, the three of them surrounding Love Machine. The A.I. looked at each of them, sensing their hostility. It seemed the game of chase was over; the fighting portion had arrived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: Play time is now over. The real fighting is about to get underway. Hopefully two Ultimates and a Mega will be enough to defeat Love Machine. He's already caused enough havoc, and it's still all just a game to him. Get ready for an all out brawl coming up next.)


	6. Our War Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: Yes, yes, I know, this chapter is named after the OVA for the Diaboromon portion of "Digimon The Movie", but I thought it was a suitable title, especially considering Love Machine's nature.)
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**Chapter 6: Our War Game**

" _Static Force!"_  Silphymon cried.

Love Machine turned to her and fired ExVeemon's  _Vee-Laser_ , cancelling out her attack. Imperialdramon rushed towards him, producing a  _Splendor Blade_  and swinging it at Love Machine. The A.I. blocked with his staff, only to have Shakkoumon fire a  _Justice Beam_  at him while his back was turned.

Breaking away from Imperialdramon, he avoided the attack, and it hit the dragon Digimon. "Oww! Watch where you're aiming!"

"Sorry," Shakkoumon muttered, then reacted as Love Machine fired Angemon's  _Hand of Fate_  at him. He sucked up the attack and blew it out his top, the effort leaving him momentarily weary and disorientated. Love Machine used the opportunity to rush at the mutant Digimon and knee him in the face.

Silphymon grabbed Love Machine from behind, but the A.I. easily broke her hold and whirled around, kicking outward. She blocked the kick, but not the punch that followed.

Imperialdramon swiped at him, careful to avoid Silphymon. Love Machine dropped from the sky, but did a flip and kicked off the ground, speeding back into the air and plowing into Imperialdramon's gut. The dragon Digimon doubled over, and Love Machine flew straight up, delivering a  _Vee-Punch_  in the form of a powerful uppercut.

" _Static Force!"_

Love Machine turned and used Angemon's  _Angel Staff_  technique to deflect Silphymon's attack. Then he raised his hand and sent out Aquilamon's  _Wave Laser_. Silphymon grabbed her head and groaned as sound waves that endorsed confusion flowed over her. With her disorientated, Love Machine launched Shakkoumon's  _Kachina Bombs_  that poured out of his gut at her.

Moving in front of her, Shakkoumon sent out his own  _Kachina Bombs_  attack, the opposing disks exploding against each other. Love Machine rushed towards him, using the smoke for cover, and the mutant Digimon shot his  _Justice Beam_. He wasn't fast enough though, and Love Machine hit him with his staff, causing Shakkoumon's attack to go astray, causing several trees to burst into flames.

"That's it!" Imperialdramon seethed.  _"Splendor Blade!"_

Reacting quickly, Love Machine produced his own  _Splendor Blade_  and blocked the attack. The two Digital life forms struggled to push the other back as Silphymon regained her senses and launched an  _Astral Laser_  while Shakkoumon fired another  _Justice Beam_. The two attacks struck Love Machine from behind, and he turned to them, his never changing expression making it impossible to tell what he was feeling. Was he angry he was attacked? Was he impressed by their power? Was he finding the challenge of this 'game' more exciting? There was no way of knowing.

Pointing a finger at them while still holding back Imperialdramon, he fired Paildramon's  _Desperado Blaster_. The two Ultimates cried out and fell from the sky as Love Machine turned back to Imperialdramon and fired his  _Positron Laser_ , blasting him away while down below the DigiDestined looked on as Love Machine stood up to all three Digimon, wishing they could do more to help.

"He's able to hold his own against all three of them," Kari noted. "And he's just getting stronger. This doesn't look good."

Yolei grabbed her head. "Argh! When are we going to catch a break?"

Up in the sky, Love Machine looked down at them, making Davis gulp nervously. "Um, Yolei, I think he heard you."

Love Machine held his hands up at them and fired Paildramon's  _Electric Bolt_. The DigiDestined cried out, but Shakkoumon placed himself in front of the attack and sucked it up, blowing it out his top.

"You leave our friends alone!" he shouted up at the A.I.

In response, Love Machine dropped down from the sky towards him while firing Imperialdramon's  _Positron Laser_. Shakkoumon sucked up this attack and released it as well, but Love Machine was still coming. Copying Armadillomon's  _Diamond Shell_ , he curled up and plowed into the mutant Digimon.

The two crashed to the ground, and the DigiDestined scattered to avoid being crushed. Groaning, Shakkoumon looked at Love Machine standing on his stomach and fired his  _Justice Beam_. Love Machine deflected it with Angemon  _Angel Staff_  technique, and then prepared to fire Angewomon's  _Celestial Arrow_  between his eyes.

A rock hit his head, and Love Machine turned to the DigiDestined, who were throwing rocks, sticks, and anything else they could get their hands on at him. Ignoring the mutant Digimon, Love Machine turned his attack towards them.

Silphymon tackled the A.I., knocking him off Shakkoumon. They struggled for a bit on the ground before Love Machine elbowed Silphymon on the ribs and threw her off him. He jumped to his feet and quickly took to the air as Imperialdramon swooped down and aimed a  _Dragon Kick_  at him.

Silphymon stood up and looked at Love Machine furiously. "I've had enough of this guy!" She flew towards him.  _"Astral Laser!"_

Love Machine countered with Angewomon's  _Heaven's Charm_ , the two attacks cancelling each other out in an explosion of energy. Silphymon used the smoke to her advantage to change her position and throw a  _Static Force_  at him.

Surprisingly, when the smoke cleared, it was revealed that her attack had hit a wall of pink bubbles. Love Machine had anticipated a second attack and had unleashed the Pagumon's  _Bubble Blow_  to defend against her attack.

Bursting through the remainder of the wall of bubbles, Love Machine appeared directly in front of Silphymon, his open hand right in her face. He unleashed Imperialdramon's  _Positron Laser_  and Silphymon cried out. The attack tore apart the two Digimon that made up her body, and Gatomon and Poromon fell from the sky.

"He beat Silphymon!" Imperialdramon exclaimed.

"Enough of this!" Shakkoumon cried. "Now I'm really mad!"

He flew at the A.I., firing his  _Justice Beam_  all the while. Love Machine deflected it with Angemon's  _Angel Staff_  technique, but Shakkoumon kept firing as he approached.

Reaching Love Machine, he lashed out with his claw-like hand. Love Machine stopped spinning his staff and grabbed Shakkoumon's hand. Leaving his staff floating in the air, he punched outward with his other hand while simultaneously unleashing Angemon's  _Hand of Fate_  attack.

As Shakkoumon was blasted backwards, Love Machine flew towards him. The transparent image of a spiky iron ball appeared at the end of his staff as he copied Ankylomon's  _Tail Hammer_  attack, slamming it down on Shakkoumon's head.

The mutant Digimon crashed to the ground, and Imperialdramon lunged at the A. I. to keep him away from his friend. Love Machine dodged, maneuvering around Imperialdramon's hand and blasted him back with the dragon Digimon's own  _Positron Laser_.

Shakkoumon's  _Justice Beam_  was fired up at him, hitting the A.I.'s shoulder. He turned towards the mutant Digimon and flew down at him. Shakkoumon fired several more  _Justice Beams_ , but Love Machine dodged them as he approached. Shakkoumon switched over to his  _Kachina Bombs_ , but Love Machine batted the explosive clay disks away and fired Silphymon's  _Astral Laser_  at him.

Having just gotten to his feet, Shakkoumon was knocked back down. Love Machine followed up his attack by copying Aquilamon's  _Grand Horn_ , slamming into the fallen Digimon. When the dust settled, Shakkoumon was gone, and Patamon and Upamon were in his place.

Imperialdramon looked on with anger in his eyes. "Shakkoumon too? Now you've really ticked me off! You're going down!"

He flew at Love Machine and swiped at him, but the A.I. flew back. Placing his thumb on his nose, he twiddled his fingers at the dragon Digimon in a rude gesture.

Imperialdramon's hands clenched. "Love Machine, you are a menace to the Digital World. You have made yourself an enemy to all Digimon and upset the balance. I cannot let you continue your destructive ways."

Down on the ground, Davis and Ken's Digivices began to glow. A similar illumination flowed over Imperialdramon as the light of Digivolution surrounded him.

"Now face the full power of the DigiDestined!  _Imperialdramon Mode Change to… Imperialdramon Paladin Mode!"_

The light faded, and Imperialdramon now hovered in the air at his strongest. Resembling the white knight he was named after, he now wielded the Omni Sword, the blade being nearly the length of his entire body, with the power to reset an opponent's data.

The DigiDestined had not seen Imperialdramon in this form since the battle with Armageddemon. The giant spider-like Digimon had defeated both Omnimon and Imperialdramon in his Fighter Mode, but after obtaining the former's power and changing to his Paladin Mode, he had defeated the seemingly unstoppable Digimon with just a single attack.

Love Machine cocked his head to the side, taking in the dragon Digimon's new white knight form. Imperialdramon didn't give him time to gawk as he rushed at the A.I., swinging his mighty weapon.

" _Omni Sword!"_

Love Machine dodged, but the power of the blade sent out a shockwave that tore apart the trees in the forest. Imperialdramon turned to him again and swiped his sword. Love Machine created a  _Splendor Blade_  and crossed swords with him, and, for a few moments, was able to hold him back before his new sword of light exploded into data, and he had to dodge once again.

Moving back, he fired Imperialdramon's  _Positron Laser_. The dragon Digimon countered with his much more powerful  _Supreme Positron Laser_. Love Machine's attack was overwhelmed, and he was blasted backwards. Imperialdramon came for him again, and Love Machine fired Angewomon's  _Heaven's Charm_ , but Imperaldramon cut right through it with his sword.

Holding up his hands, index fingers extended, Love Machine copied Paildramon's  _Desperado Blaster_. The bullets ricocheted off Imperialdramon's body as he kept coming, and Love Machine was forced to dodge another swipe of the blade while firing Shakkoumon's  _Justice Beam_. The attack struck the dragon Digimon's shoulder, but he ignored it as he turned to the A.I. once more.

"You can't beat me anymore," Imperialdramon told him. "Now you're going to pay for all those you've hurt."

Love Machine regarded him for a moment before holding up his staff. The hologram of Imperialdramon's Omni Sword appeared around it as he copied the attack. Gripping the 'sword', he flew at the dragon Digimon. Imperialdramon held up his own sword, catching the blade.

"Not even your mimicking can help you now," he told him.

He pushed back and brought his sword down. Love Machine's own blade clashed against it as a sword fight broke out in mid-air. Even though both the blade and the wielder were much smaller than Imperialdramon, Love Machine was able to match the dragon Digimon blow for blow.

Down on the ground, Davis observed this and couldn't help but wonder out loud, "How is Love Machine and his sword able to fight against Imperialdramon when he's so much smaller?"

Having recovered, Patamon, as had the other children's Digimon, watched the battle. "It's all the power that's packed into the sword and its wielder that's allowing him to hold his own. Size doesn't really mean much in terms of strength when it comes to Digimon."

"He's right," Cody agreed, holding Upamon. "And if Love Machine is copying Imperialdramon's attack, then it's quite possible that, sizes aside, it's the same level of strength."

"Or," said Gatomon in Kari's arms, "the strength of the copied attack depends on how strong Love Machine is."

"Which means," Yolei muttered nervously, "it all comes down to who is more powerful, Love Machine or Imperialdramon."

It did seem, however, that Love Machine was the one on the defense in the fight. Perhaps it was because, while in his Paladin Mode, Imperialdramon was a naturally skilled swordsman, while Love Machine seemed to lack any such skills, or perhaps the dragon Digimon really was stronger than the A.I., or both. Whatever the case, Imperialdramon definitely had the upper hand for now.

" _Splendor Blade!"_  the dragon Digimon cried, producing a second blade.

Love Machine copied him, and the two came together again, Splendor Blade meeting Splendor Blade, Omni Sword meeting Omni Sword. Love Machine continued to be overwhelmed until Imperialdramon finally struck the A.I.'s sword of light with his Omni Sword, causing the blade to disperse, then struck with his Splendor Blade.

Love Machine hovered away from Imperialdramon, his hand covering the gash on his chest. The dragon Digimon pointed his Omni Sword at him threateningly while raising the other one. Love Machine hesitated for a moment before firing Imperialdramon's  _Supreme Positron Laser_  at him.

His artificial sword of light vanished as Imperialdramon grasped the Omni Sword with both hands and swiped forward, cutting straight through the attack.

"Time to put an end to you, Love Machine." His chest opened, producing a large gun. "Say you're prayers.  _Giga Crusher!"_

There was no escaping the attack. The energy wave blasted Love Machine back, pushing him over the forest until he slammed into the mountain. There was an explosion of energy that consumed the entire mountainside, blinding all those that looked in its direction.

The attack died down, and a good portion of the mountain was revealed to have been disintegrated. A massive avalanche started as the giant rock structure nearly collapsed, the pile of rocks that fell being the only thing to hold up the top half of what was left of the mountain.

A silence fell over the forest from the deafening  _boom_  of the attack. It was interrupted by the sound of the gun sticking out of Imperialdramon's chest retracting back into his body. He looked down to his friends to make sure they were doing ok.

"Everyone all right?" he called down at them.

The DigiDestined stared at the partly destroyed mountain with gaping mouths. They'd witnessed Imperialdramon's  _Giga Crusher_  attack before, but not in his Paladin Mode. The attack that had destroyed MaloMyotismon was even more devastatingly powerful with the dragon Digimon at his strongest.

"That…" Davis muttered, "was… AWESOME!" He turned to the others, his face lighting up. "Did you guys see that? He totally annihilated that freak!" He looked back at Imperialdramon. "You the mon, big guy!"

Blushing in embarrassment, Imperialdramon rubbed the back of his head. "Aww, shucks."

"No, seriously, that was incredible! You were like, 'Giga Crusher', and it was like  _perrr!_  And Love Machine was like  _ahhh!_  And then it was like  _bwooom!_ "

Yolei sighed. "Who made him our leader again?"

TK chuckled. "Let him have his moment. He deserves it. So do you, Ken."

But Ken was too busy willing the embarrassed blush of Davis' antics out of his cheeks. "No… I'm… I'm good…"

Davis wrapped an arm around his neck, pulling him close. "Aww, come on, don't be so modest. That's half your Digimon up there too. Take some pride."

"It's not over yet," Cody reminded them. "We've got to get back to Primary Village and find Love Machine's Digi-Egg, or whatever he has, and decided what to do with it."

Davis released Ken. "Good plan. Maybe we can give it to that Shoutmon guy I met and he can put it wherever he's keeping Quartzmon's egg."

In Kari's arms, Gatomon nodded. "We better hurry. Love Machine isn't a Digimon. We don't know how fast he'll hatch. From what we were told, it happened very quickly."

Imperialdramon came in for a landing. "In any case, we should-"

He was interrupted by a loud  _bang_  coming from the mountain. The entire rock structure was shaking as cracks spread over it.

"It looks like the mountain is collapsing," exclaimed TK. "Guess that blast really did it in."

"I'll see what I can do to support it," said Imperialdramon, taking to the air and flying towards the collapsing mountain.

Afraid it would topple over or crumble to pieces before he got there, he feared the mountain would collapse on any Digimon that wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time. This also made him realize that he had been careless with his attack, and that any unsuspecting Digimon on the mountain could have gotten caught up in the blast. He really hoped that wasn't the case, and made a mental note to be more careful in the future. But now, with the entire thing crumbling to pieces, any Digimon that were still on the mountain that may have avoided the attack would have whatever was left of the mountain collapsing beneath them.

But then something else happened that he didn't anticipate. Rather than collapsing, the mountain exploded outward in a shower of rocks, and something massively large emerged. It was a monster of some kind, one that proved to be almost as large as the mountain itself with the more it emerged. There was no way to tell what it was, but it was obvious as to who it was.

Love Machine was still alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: Darn so close. For a minute there, it looked like the battle was over. Imperialdramon had the advantage, but then he got careless. In his defense, it's not like you can check for Digital life form's dead body since it breaks down into data upon death. Now Love Machine is back and ready for round two. He's much like a saiyan, he gets stronger and adapts the more he fights. Hopefully, Imperialdramon will still be able to stand up to him. You'll have to wait until the next installment to find out what happens.)


	7. Approaching Game Over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: This chapter is shorter than I would have liked. Was considering making this chapter and last one, but found the ending point of last time to be a good spot to end things for the time being.)
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**Chapter 7: Approaching Game Over**

"Um, guys, I think we're in trouble," Imperialdramon muttered as he stared at the giant form of the A.I.

Love Machine had gone through a drastic transformation, if one could even called it that. He had become so massively large that he could crush Imperialdramon in his hand. Appearing as a dark menacing demonic figure, he towered over the dragon Digimon, casting a shadow over the entire forest.

Strangely enough, his body seemed to be a swarm of smaller life forms, as if hundreds of millions of individuals were working together, sharing a single mind, to make up the giant's body. These were, in fact, copies of the 412,308,249 different OZ account avatars he had stolen in his previous life making up his new body with glowing gold markings spread across it. He also appeared to have a pair of white angel-like wings that contrasted with his demonic appearance. These were actually a portion of the main database from the OZ server that he had obtained the data of, seeming to rest against his back like a backpack rather than an actual body part.

A strange multi-ringed glowing halo spread out from his back, several times larger than his own body, resembling a sun, and giving him a god-like appearance. His face, however, was anything but godly, looking just as demonic as in his previous form, the countless smaller avatars doing their best to form his devilish features, his eyes and mouth glowing bright red. A glowing pink heart shaped mark rested on his forehead, and above that seemed to be a golden charm, the avatars shaping his head to imitate the headgear from his last form.

"What is that thing?" Yolei cried. "Can that really be Love Machine?"

"Whatever it is," said Cody, "I don't have a very good feeling about this."

"His body is like a swarm of bees," Kari observed, "like he's a living swarm of smaller creatures, but still one single entity."

Having gotten over his shock, Imperialdramon's eyes narrowed. "He's just a bigger target now." His gun stuck out of his chest.  _"Giga Crusher!"_

He fired a blast of energy. Love Machine did nothing to avoid the blast. A good portion of his body was blown apart, the millions of avatars sent flying.

The damage didn't last. The scattered avatars reformed into the A.I.'s body, the ones that had been obliterated rematerialized out of thin air and rejoined the others as the damaged wings regenerated. When Love Machine was whole again, the halo on his back reappeared and the glowing marks on his body returned.

"You're kidding!" Imperialdramon exclaimed. "My attack was ineffective?"

TK shook his head. "No, it's not that it was ineffective, he just completely regenerated any damage he took."

"But does that mean we have to destroy every last one of those smaller creatures at the same time or else the rest will just keep coming back?" Ken wondered out loud.

"How are we supposed to accomplish that?" Cody cried.

Love Machine roared, making noise for the first time since his weasel-like snickering in his Mickey Mouse form. His giant hand reached out, the countless avatars that formed it moving about like ants. They moved with perfect cooperation, allowing the A.I. to swipe at Imperialdramon.

Love Machine was big, but the dragon Digmon had speed. He flew out of the way of the giant hand, and the second one reached for him. He fired a  _Supreme Positron Laser_  at it, blowing the limb apart, only to have the avatars immediately reform into a new hand once more.

Grumbling loudly, Love Machine raised his giant hand. The avatars reshaped into a much larger paddle-shaped limb, and Love Machine brought it down. It was now too big for Imperialdramon to maneuver around, and he covered his head defensively.

Getting whacked out of the sky, he dropped to the ground like a speeding bullet. The impact formed a large crater the dragon Digimon laid in. He groaned and rolled over as Love Machine's form blocked out the sun, towering over him menacingly.

Moaning, Imperialdramon raised his hand.  _"Supreme Positron Laser!"_

The attack struck Love Machine's shoulder, the blast causing him to shift slightly, nothing more. Fixing his red gaze on the fallen dragon Digimon, he held out his arms. The avatars that made up the outer layer of his body suddenly unleashed a barrage of the various attacks he had learned since arriving in the Digital World.

As the storm of attacks flew towards him, Imperialdramon knew that his only chance to survive the onslaught was to fly right into it and try to use his speed to avoid as many of the attacks as he could. So, forcing himself to his feet, he grasped his sword tightly and flew straight into the storm.

For the DigiDestined, it was like watching the brutal slaughter of WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon four years ago when they faced Diaboromon and all his copies, only there were numerous different attacks being used. It seemed each individual avatar was capable of using a different attack at the same time.

Imperialdramon did his best to avoid the attacks, using his sword to knock them away, but there was just far too many. He dodged a  _Vee-Laser_  and knocked away a  _Moon Shooter_ , only to have a  _Hand of Fate_  strike him, followed by a  _Static Force_  and a  _Wave Laser_  before he managed to avoid being hit by a  _Celestial Arrow_ , only to be hit by an  _Electric Bolt_. And so it went on, avoiding and knocking away some attacks, only to be hit by others.

The attacks kept coming as the avatars of Love Machine's body fired one after another. Just as Imperialdramon thought he wouldn't make it through this alive, the attacks stopped. Huffing and puffing, he looked up at the looming A.I., wondering what his intentions were.

"Is that…" he groaned defiantly, "all you've got…?"

He knew it probably wasn't a good idea to provoke the giant monster, but he couldn't afford to show weakness, even though he was clearly outmatched.

In response, Love Machine held up his hand. The avatars that formed the limb suddenly broke away from the whole, flying towards Imperialdramon like an angry swarm. They seemed to get brighter and gain more color as they approached, as if being close to Love Machine's body left a shadow draped over them.

Imperialdramon gulped and raised his sword as the swarm flowed over him. Most of the avatars were much smaller than him, but there were so many. They lashed out at him as they passed by like a school of piranha going after their prey. The dragon Digimon slashed at them with his sword and batted them away. Any he struck simply regenerated any damage they received. It seemed they were all a part of Love Machine, and since the whole could regenerate, so could each of them, making it impossible to destroy even one of them. Although there were many, they were still one being, all sharing the same mind, all part of a whole, like they were the cells making up the body, only each could act on their own under the will of the whole.

The continuous onslaught of attacks was getting to him, but Imperialdramon kept fighting, even though he knew there was no defeating these things. He didn't even know what they were, but there were so many of them, and each one was as different as the last.

"These things aren't Digimon!" he cried, swinging his sword wildly. "What the heck are they?"

His question went by unheard over the sounds of the swarming avatars. He couldn't even be seen amongst the swarm, and the DigiDestined could only guess as to what was happening to their friend in the midst of it all. The only thing they could do was hope and pray that the dragon Digimon's stamina would hold out until it was over.

Finally, at long last, the swarm moved away from Imperialdramon and began to return to the main body. When the dragon Digimon was finally visible again, he simply hovered in mid-air with his arms at his side. His armored body was completely covered in dents and scrapes, and his wings had numerous cuts on them. With his grip going slack, the Omni Sword dropped out of his hand and fell to the ground, landing point first.

When the last of the avatars rejoined the main body, those that made up Love Machine's chest began to move. They started flowing outward, extending from the body to form a long cylindrical shape.

Imperialdramon looked up with hooded eyes to stare at what the avatars had formed on Love Machine's chest. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me."

Having finished forming a gun, Love Machine fired Imperialdramon's  _Giga Crusher_  at him. The dragon Digimon knew he wouldn't be able to avoid it in his condition. The energy beam flowed over him, and he was lost within it. The attack kept going, hitting the ground and erupting into an explosion that completely obliterated a good portion of the forest.

Down on the ground, the Omni Sword disappeared, indicating that Imperialdramon had either perished or lost his hold on his Mega form.

With the menacing form of the giant A.I. looming over them, the DigiDestined carried their Digimon over to the crater sight. Love Machine let them, seemingly interested in what they would do. They came across the clearing of destruction, the range stretching for several dozen meters. In the center of it were two small objects, one blue, one green.

"Veemon!" Davis cried, hopping into the crater.

"Wormmon!" shouted Ken, following suit.

But it was not the two Rookie Digimon whose names they had called out, rather, it was their Baby forms. Davis picked up the disorientated Chibomon while Ken scooped up the seemingly unconscious Leafmon.

"Hey, you ok?" Davis asked.

"Uhhh…" Chibomon moaned, and Davis breathed a sigh of relief.

"Leafmon, speak to me," Ken begged with tears in his eyes.

Slowly, the leaf Digimon's beady eyes cracked open. "Ken… I'm sorry…"

"Uhh…" Chibomon repeated.

The others caught up to them.

"Are they ok?" TK asked worriedly.

"Uhhh…"

Davis glanced at them. "I think so, but they're completely spent."

"And we're completely exposed," Cody pointed out, looking up at Love Machine.

The giant A.I. stared down at them menacingly. The gun the avatars had formed had returned to the original shape of Love Machine's chest, but it didn't make him any less dangerous.

"Oh, great," Yolei muttered, "anyone have a plan?"

"I would suggest we run," said Kari, "but I don't think it would do any good."

Love Machine roared and formed a giant ball of energy in his palms as he copied Silphymon's  _Static Force_. Over a thousand times larger than before, the giant ball of energy flew towards the DigiDestined.

Thinking this was the end, they cringed as the attack came, hugging their partner Digimon tightly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: It all seems hopeless. Love Machine is now stronger than ever, and massively large to boot. And with the DigiDestined's Digimon down for the count, it doesn't look like there's anyone left to stop the A.I. So, again, sorry this chapter was kind of short, but I had to end it here for next time. You'll be sure to love it. Also, I found a good pic that has all four of Love Machine's forms nicely depicted.)
> 
> www.deviantart.com/silverbuller/art/Love-Machine-As-A-Digimon-526248652


	8. Wrath of the Sovereigns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: Ok, so after a major cliffhanger last chapter, we're left with Love Machine more powerful than ever, and the DigiDestined and their Digimon rendered helpless. How could they possible defeat him now that even their strongest Digimon has fallen? Lets see what happens.)
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**Chapter 8: Wrath of the Sovereigns**

" _Lightning Whip!"_  a mighty voice cried out.

From up in the sky, a bolt of lightning came down, striking Love Machine's attack like a whip, sending it off course.

The DigiDestined dared to open their eyes when they heard the explosion the attack caused and realized they were still alive. Looking up, they saw clouds appear in the sky, and something large descended from them.

Colossal in size, the newcomer had a long transparent serpentine body wrapped in chains and glowing with a blue aura. A dark blue mask with yellow markings covered its head, from which a metal lightning-shaped horn grew, and a long white beard hung down from its mouth.

The DigiDestined stared at the giant dragon Digimon in wonder, having only seen it once before.

"I don't believe it," TK whispered in awe, "it's Azulongmon."

The Mega level Digimon turned his gaze upon them. "Children, you have done well to face this fiend, but now it falls upon my brethren and I to finish this battle."

He turned to Love Machine, all four of his eyes narrowing. "Love Machine, you are an intruder in this world. You have upset the peace and thrown off the balance. While it is not in our nature to interfere with the matters of this world outside of watching over it, you have forced our hand. Now you must face judgment. We will put a stop to you."

Down on the ground, the DigiDestined took in his words.

"Does this mean that Azulongmon's going to fight him?" Cody asked.

The completely worn out Chibomon cracked his eyes open. "That's fine with me. I could use a break; I'm totally wiped."

"Wait, he said 'we', right?" asked Davis. "I definitely heard him say 'we', didn't you?"

Azulongmon uncurled his massive body, stretching out across the sky. "Prepare to face the wrath of the Digimon Sovereigns!"

From out of the clouds, three more massively large figures dropped down from the sky. The first resembled an enormous white tiger with light purple stripes, wearing a lavender mask similar to Azulongmon's. He too had an aura surrounding his body, his being white. "Baihumon, the White Tiger of the West!"

The second landed beside him, equally as large. This one was a giant two-headed tortoise with an enormous tree growing on its back, his entire body surrounded by a green aura. "Ebonwumon," the right head declared, and the one on the left finished for him, "the Black Tortoise of the North!"

The last one was the smallest of the four, but still enormously large, and no less breathtaking to behold. It was a multi-winged red phoenix covered in stripes of flame markings, and a red aura surrounding his body. "Zhuqiaomon, the Vermilion Bird of the South!"

Azulongmon flew over to the other three. "And I am Azulongmon, the Azure Dragon of the East!"

Love Machine cocked his head to the side curiously, then roared at the four of them.

"Make all the noise you want," Zhuqiaomon told him, "it won't save you."

"That's right," said Enbonwumon's right head. "We'll teach you youngsters not to be causing trouble in our world."

Baihumon just growled. "Why are you even bothering to talk to him. We know what he's like, that's why we decided to step in. So lets deal with this already.  _Iron-Armored Claw!"_

He leapt at Love Machine, slashing at him, sending the avatars scattering all about.

Ebonwumon's left head sighed. "These young ones, always so eager for a fight."

Zhuqiaomon stretched out his wings. "He's right though, we must act.  _Desolation Blast!"_

Fireballs flew from his wings, slamming into Love Machine. The A.I. growled as the avatars reformed his body, healing their burns in the process. Stretching out his arm, the avatars reshaped into a blade, and the hologram of the Omni Sword appeared around it as he copied Imperialdramon's attack and swiped at Baihumon.

The Western Sovereign jumped back, but the sword still grazed him. The avatars then reshaped themselves into a whip that began glowing with electricity as Love Machine copied Azulongmon's  _Lightning Whip_  and lashed out at Zhuqiaomon. The Southern Sovereign's aura, which already acted as a barrier, did little to defend against the attack as the whip struck him painfully.

Love Machine's attention then shifted to the Northern Sovereign, and his whip flew at Ebonwumon, wrapping around his leg. The giant Digimon was lifted off the ground and found himself suspended in the air while being electrocuted.

"Put me down, you overgrown toddler!" the left head demanded.  _"Black Hail!"_

From up above, giant black crystals rained down from the sky. They plowed into Love Machine like meteors falling from space, sending avatars flying from the main body. One of the crystals struck the arm that held up Ebonwumon, and the tortoise Digimon fell to the ground.

"Enough of this!" Azulongmon cried, and curled his body into a circle.  _"Aurora Force!"_

The space within the circle of Azulongmon's body filled with energy that burst out in a powerful beam. At the same time, Baihumon gathered energy in his mouth and unleashed it.  _"Bronze Cannon!"_

A beam of bronze colored energy flew from his mouth. The two attacks swirled together and struck Love Machine, erupting into a mighty explosion that shook the land for miles around. Love Machine's avatars went flying everywhere as most of his wings were obliterated.

"Excellent!" Zhuqiaomon declared, flapping his wings.  _"Sonic Zephyr!"_

The avatars were sent flying even further apart from the shockwave the phoenix Digimon created, many getting completely crushed by the force of it. But those that had been destroyed immediately rematerialized once again while the damage done to the rest healed.

From up in the sky, more giant black crystals rained down, only these came down on the Digimon Sovereigns, one of them hitting Azulongmon's body and knocking him to the ground.

"I didn't do that," Ebonwumon's right head told them.

"He must have copied your attack," Zhuqiaomon replied. "Well, lets see him copy this.  _Phoenix Fire!"_

The avatars finished reforming Love Machine's body, and his wings finished regenerating when Zhuqiaomon's attack flowed over his body. The flames burned, but Love Machine didn't even bother to avoid the attack as the avatars' burns quickly healed.

"Impossible!" the phoenix Digimon cried. "How can the attack of a Sovereign be so ineffective against him?"

"He adapts," Azulongmon explained. "And the damage the individuals receive don't seem to effect the whole."

Love Machine roared as his arm extended outward, forming a tentacle. The tentacle curled into the shape of a circle, and blue energy filled the center. Azulongmon's eyes widened as he realized the A.I. was copying his  _Aurora Force_.

"That's my attack!" he warned.

His warning came too late as the beam burst forth. Azulongmon was too large to avoid it in time, and as Love Machine shifted the attack to strike the other three Sovereigns, Ebonwumon was too slow to move as it struck him as well. Baihumon was able to leap away, and Zhuqiaomon flew up higher to avoid the beam, but Love Machine breathed fire while shooting fireballs from his wings at them as he copied the Southern Sovereign's  _Phoenix Fire_  and  _Desolation Blast_  at the same time. The former attack flowed over Zhuqiaomon while the fireballs slammed into Baihumon.

The tiger Digimon roared with fury. "That is enough! You will not make fools out of us!  _Gold Strength!"_

A ray of gold light shot out of his mouth and hit the A.I. Everywhere the beam struck, Love Machine was suddenly covered in metal, the area covering most of his arm and part of is face.

"Ha!" Zhuqiaomon laughed. "That will teach you not to defy the Sovereigns!"

"Oh, aye," Ebonwumon's left head agreed. "Perhaps now you'll learn to respect your elders, won't you, laddie?"

Love Machine just roared. While ordinarily, Baihumon's metal encasing attack would have left an opponent trapped until the metal finally rusted away, it was not the case with Love Machine. The avatars making up the A.I.'s body disassembled and flew out of the metal covering.

But they didn't stop there. Dragging along Love Machine's pair of wings, the avatars flew at the Sovereigns like an actual swarm of bees. Splitting into four groups, they each went after a different Sovereign, flying into them. The avatars physically assaulted them, and while such small and minor attacks would not usually bother the Sovereigns, the hundreds of millions of little attacks happening all at once all over their bodies did indeed have an impact.

"Remove yourselves from me!" Zhuqiaomon raged.  _"Blazing Helix!"_

He flapped his wings, unleashing fiery spirals. The avatars clinging to him that weren't completely incinerated retreated and regrouped away from the flames. As the ones that had been burnt to ash rematerialized, the gathering of avatars shaped themselves into Love Machine's head.

Opening his mouth, he copied Baihumon's  _Gold Strength_  attack and fired a golden beam of light at Zhuqiaomon. The phoenix Digimon cried out as the light flowed over and consumed him. His cries were cut off as he was completely encased in metal, and he dropped down from the sky as a solid metal statue.

"Zhuiaomon is down!" Azulongmon cried. He roared loudly to the sky as the three other groups of avatars continued their assault. "Be gone, you fiends!  _Blue Lightning!"_

Clouds appeared in the sky, and bolts of lightning rained down, striking over the bodies of the Digimon Sovereigns. The avatars retreated as the electricity flowed over them and went to reform Love Machine's body.

Ebonwumon came out from his shell and turned his attention to the A.I. once more. "Now it's our turn," the left head declared.  _"Misty Illusion!"_

From within the treetop on his back, a dark mist flowed down. It drifted away from him and flowed over Love Machine. True to its name, it engulfed the A.I. in a powerful illusion.

Baihumon pounced, chomping down on Love Machine's shoulder. With his body made up of numerous smaller ones, this attack was nowhere near as effective as it would have been on someone with a single solid form. Love Machine simply roared and threw the tiger Digimon off him.

" _Spine-Ringed Tail!"_  Baihumon cried, whirling around in mid-air and striking the A.I. with it.

The avatars were sent flying in all directions where Baihumon's tail struck, but quickly reformed. Love Machine's hand shaped itself into a claw and copied the tiger Digimon's  _Iron-Armored Claw_  attack as he swiped at him, slicing across Baihumon's side. Growling in pain, Baihumon leapt away from him and over to the other two Sovereigns.

"I don't understand," said Ebonwumon's right head. "My illusion didn't affect him at all. He shouldn't have even been able to feel Baihumon's attack."

"He is one from many," Azulongmon reminded him. "If even one of those creatures is able to keep its senses while the rest are lost to your illusion, the mind they share amongst them will see through the deception."

As he spoke, the metal statue of Zhuqiaomon began glowing red as it heated from the inside. The outer layer began to liquefy as cracks spread across the surface. It suddenly burst open, and the Southern Sovereign emerged in a tower of flames, screeching furiously.

"I have had enough of this!" he bellowed. "This wretched beast is going down!"

"Wait, Zhuqiaomon!" Azulongmon cried as the Southern Sovereign sped towards the A.I.

A swarm of avatars burst from Love Machine's chest. They slammed into the phoenix Digimon like speeding bullets as he approached. Upon bouncing off the Southern Sovereign, they doubled back to rejoin the main body before shooting out once again in a never-ending loop.

Zhuqiaomon cried out as the stream of avatars continuously sprayed against him like a high-pressured jet of water. Fire blazed in his four eyes as he raised his wings.  _"Crimson Blaze!"_

There was a solar eruption that emitted a swirl of flames. Love Machine's body was blown apart, sending avatars flying everywhere. They recovered quickly and reformed, taking on a different form. Shaping themselves into a giant ball, they plowed into the phoenix Digimon, knocking him back over to his fellow Sovereigns, then began to take on yet another form.

"Hold on a minute," Ebonwumon's left head exclaimed, "is that beast mocking me?"

It did indeed seem that the avatars had shaped themselves into the Northern Sovereign. Love Machine roared to the sky, and from up above, giant pieces of black crystal rained down on the Digimon Sovereigns as he copied Enbonwumon's  _Black Hail_  attack.

The avatars reshaped themselves as Love Machine took on the form of Azulongmon. The black crystals continued to rain down as he curled up into a circle and fired the Eastern Sovereign's  _Aurora Force_ , blasting each Sovereign.

Once the attack finished firing, Love Machine once more reshaped himself, this time into Zhuqiaomon. While the Sovereigns were still recovering from the last two attacks, he unleashed the Southern Sovereign's  _Crimson Blaze_ , surrounding them in a swirl of flames.

They knew what was coming next before it did as, for the fourth time, Love Machine reformed into Baihumon. Unable to escape the flames, they could only brace themselves as the A.I. copied Baihumon's  _Bronze Cannon_  and fired upon them.

With a grumble that seemed to be an arrogant chuckle, Love Machine resumed his true form once more as his wings returned to his back and his markings and halo reappeared. He waited calmly for the smoke to clear and reveal the battle weary Sovereigns.

"The nerve of this abomination," Zhuqiaomon seethed. "Not only does he dare to use our own attacks against us, but now he has the gall to mock us by taking on our forms."

"Aye," Ebonwumon's right head agreed. "These young ones got no respect for their elders."

Love Machine roared, and his arms stretched out to the two that had spoken. One grabbed Ebonwumon, the other Zhuqiaomon, lifting them both in the air. Electricity began flowing through them as the A.I. copied Gatomon's  _Lightning Claw_.

"No!" Azulongmon cried, and curled his body into a circle.  _"Aurora Force!"_

At the same time, Baihumon leapt behind him and fired his  _Bronze Cannon_. The attack went through Azulongmon's curled body, combining with his  _Aurora Force_  to create a massive burst of energy. It struck Love Machine, and he was blown apart, his wings and halo completely obliterated.

The avatars making up the A.I.'s arms disassembled, and the two Sovereigns were freed. They rejoined the other two as the remaining avatars regrouped and the destroyed ones rematerialized along with Love Machine's wings and halo. But they didn't reform into a body. Instead, they rose up in a massive wave, spreading out to cover as much distance as possible. With over 400 million avatars working together, they towered over all four Digimon Sovereigns, and the wave fell over them.

Curling around the Sovereigns, the avatars formed a sphere-shaped prison. The Sovereigns struggled within the sphere, but could not break out. Flashes of light began emitting between the empty spaces of the sphere as the avatars unleashed a massive barrage of various attacks upon them. Smoke began rising from the top of the sphere, seeping out the gaps between the avatars as the Sovereigns' struggles slowly ceased.

The DigiDestined had a perfect view of the onslaught. Though they couldn't see what was happening within the sphere, they could certainly imagine it, and the cries from the Sovereigns didn't help as the cloud of smoke got thicker and thicker.

"This is horrible," Kari whispered, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "It's horrible!"

Yolei was gripping her hair painfully, shaking her head. "Make it stop! Make it stop!"

In Davis' arms, Chibomon made weakened attempts to get free. "Gotta… go… help…"

Davis held him tighter. "Just what do you thick you're going to do?"

"Well, we've got to do something!" Cody cried. "If this keeps up, they'll be destroyed!"

"I didn't think anyone could stand up to a Digimon Sovereign," said Ken, "let alone all four of them at the same time."

Patamon looked up at his partner. "TK?"

The boy's hands clenched at how helpless he felt. "I know, Patamon, I know."

The cries of the Sovereigns had stopped by now, and, finally, so had the barrage of attacks. The avatars separated and reformed into Love Machine, leaving a massive cloud of smoke behind. There were four loud  _thuds_  as each Sovereign fell to the ground. And when the smoke cleared, each Sovereign lay unconscious and gravely injured on the ground.

The Digimon Sovereigns had fallen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: Oh, snap, he took out the Sovereigns. Not only that, they just gave him a whole new series of powerful attacks. And the DigiDestined's Digimon are down and out. But even if they weren't, AND the first generation was with them as well, what can they do against someone who can not only take out a Digimon Sovereign, but all four at once? I think it's safe to say that they're all royally screwed.)


	9. Gennai's Bet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: This chapter is very different from the others, so I better say this right now. There's going to be a "game" that will take place in this chapter, and we all know how Love Machine loves games. I'll explain more about it at the end of the chapter in the Author's Note.)
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**Chapter 9: Gennai's Bet**

Love Machine roared his victory to the sky. Towering over the fallen Digimon Sovereigns, he looked very much like a demonic godly being with his dark form, white wings, and glowing halo on his back. Having defeated all four Digimon Sovereigns, he may very well be on his way to such a status.

As the A.I.'s hand stretched out to the Sovereigns, Patamon leapt out of TK's arms.

"Patamon, wait!" the boy cried.

"I can't, TK!" Patamon called back as he flew towards Love Machine. "Someone's got to do something!"

He got as close as he dared to the A.I. before inflating and firing a  _Boom Bubble_. The bubble of air flew towards the giant and burst against him. It did no visible damage, but the towering form of Love Machine turned towards the little Digimon, and Patamon suddenly felt very foolish.

Cocking his head to the side, Love Machine considered him for a few seconds before copying his attack, spiting out a much larger burst of air. It was impossible for Patamon to avoid the giant bubble of air, and it blasted him backwards and down to the ground. He crashed through a treetop and landed in a bush.

"Patamon!" TK cried, rushing over to his friend. He searched through the bushes, finding the small orange Digimon with dizzy swirls in his eyes. "Patamon, are you ok?"

The Rookie Digimon looked up at him. "Sorry, TK, I tried."

He gave him a smile. "I know you did, and you did good."

"Yeah," Upamon agreed, "but now we have another problem."

The towering form of Love Machine was now looming over them. Growling at them, he stretched out his arms and curled them into circles, preparing to fire two of Azulongmon's  _Aurora Force_  attacks at once. At the same time, energy for Baihumon's  _Bronze Cannon_  gathered in his mouth as fireballs for Zhuqiaomon's  _Desolation Blast_  appeared on his wings. The avatars then reshaped themselves to form a giant gun protruding from his chest to launch Imperialdramon's  _Giga Crusher_  as well.

With at least five immensely powerful attacks about to be fired at them, the DigiDestined cringed together.

"Well," Davis muttered, "it's been nice knowing you guys."

Yolei suddenly grabbed Ken, holding his head closely to her chest in a tight hug. "Ken, I've always loved you!"

TK and Kari exchanged looks, their eyes speaking volumes of things left unsaid. Their hands reached out for each other, fingers interlocking as they held onto each other and their Digimon.

The circles Love Machine's arms formed filled with energy as more gathered at the end of the gun on his chest and in his mouth and wings. It had been a fun game while it lasted, and they had put up a good fight, but it looked like this was his victory.

"You're not going to end things just yet, are you?"

The question got Love Machine's attention, and he turned to the speaker. Flying in the air beside him was a Digimon known as Hippogriffomon, and riding on its back, the one that had spoken, was Gennai.

"Because if you end it now," he continued, "you won't get to have any more fun later."

Love Machine regarded him curiously for a bit before stopping his attacks. Gennai smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

"There's a good sport."

He redirected the Hippogriffomon to take him down, and they flew over towards the DigiDestined. When flying over them, he jumped off the Hippogriffomon's back and landed beside them.

"Hey, there," he greeted, as if their lives weren't in danger, "how's it going?"

"Gennai, what are you doing here?" Cody asked.

He smiled and winked at them. "I'm here to help. Izzy and I found out a lot about our friend Love Machine, and we now know his weakness."

"Great," said Davis, "that come in handy right about now. So what's his weakness?"

"He likes to play games."

The statement was met with silence. The hope that the DigiDestined had been feeling came crashing down. They thought that his news would be a bit more… well, helpful than that.

"Um… what?" Yolei muttered.

"He can't resist playing games," Gennai explained, "and he's very competitive."

"How's that supposed to help us?" Davis practically wailed.

"It's how he was defeated in the world he came from," Gennai told him. "Do you trust me?" When he received hesitant nods, he held out his hand. "Ok, then I'll need to borrow you D-Terminals."

Yolei cut her eyes at him and adjusted her glasses. "What for?" she asked suspiciously.

Gennai just smiled. "I need to catch Love Machine's interest."

Looking uncertain, they handed over their devices. Gennai thanked them and turned his attention to Love Machine.

"You've accumulated a lot of data, my friend," he told the A.I. "But some things you cannot obtain by force." He pressed a button on each of the D-Terminals, and images of each Digimental contained in the devices appeared. "These are called Digimentals. They're special Digi-Eggs with incredible power that allow Digimon to Armor Digivolve. However, they can only be obtained by the ones they were meant for, unless otherwise given away. So how about we make a little wager. We'll play a game, and if I win, you let us all go, but if you win, you can have the Digimentals."

"What?" Yolai cried.

"Gennai, no!" said Gatomon.

Aside from holding up a hand to silence them, Gennai ignored their cries of protest. "Furthermore, you can also eat me. I know you've been eating Digimon and Digi-Eggs to absorb data in order to upgrade yourself. Well, here's a rare opportunity for you. I'm a digital life form that's different from Digimon, and the Digimentals are incredibly rare items whose data you won't be able to forcibly obtain. You can have all this if you beat me. But if you lose, you let my friends, the Sovereigns, and I go free. And its not like you'll never get another chance to get us again. We'll simply come back for a rematch later, only we'll be even stronger than before, so we can provide you with an even better challenge. What do you say? Either way, you'll get something out of it, some rare data if you win, or the promise of a more formidable challenge later if you lose. Sounds good, don't you think?"

Love Machine seemed to consider Gennai's offer, and his head slowly bobbed into a nod, bringing a smile to Gennai's face.

"Very well then, we have a bet."

A tap on his shoulder drew his attention to TK. "Hey, um, Gennai, what exactly are you trying to do?"

Gennai just winked. "Don't worry. Just stand back and let me handle this."

Placing the tips of his thumb and index finger against his lips, he whistled loudly. A few seconds passed, and then eight Digimon flew down from the sky. They all looked alike, though they were of various sizes. With large eyes, four of them consisted of color patterns of yellow and white, three of blue and white, and one of black and white. They also each had what appeared to be one to four blank cards floating around their bodies, the more cards they had, the larger their round bodies.

Davis blinked at the strange creatures. "Um, Gennai, what are those?"

Gennai held out his hand, and the smallest of the yellow and white ones with a single card spinning around over its head floated into his palm. "These are Cardmon. They're a very unique species of Digimon."

"If they're all called Cardmon, why do they all look different from each other?" Cody asked.

"Because they're different levels and different types. The yellow and white ones are land based, and the blue and white ones and the black and white one are water based."

One of the blue Cardmon, the one with two cards hovering below its round body like flippers, flew over to them. "The reason we're different, even though we're the same species is because we're different levels."

"Yes," said the black one. "I'm at the Ultimate level, and for the others, the ones with one card are at the Rookie level, two are at the Champion, three the Ultimate, and four the Mega."

They all looked at the eight different Cardmon. "Then shouldn't your names change with your levels?" Davis asked.

"There are a select few Digimon whose names don't change when they Digivolve," Gennai explained. "Arukadhimon, Lucemon, and Gizumon are like that to; they're names stay the same even when they Digivolve." He looked at the Cardmon. "But these guys also have a rather interesting power that will be of use here. Ready, guys?"

"Ready!" the Cardmon cried.

The cards on their bodies began glowing. From out of thin air, cards began materializing. They were similar to the ones on their bodies, only they weren't blank, and they were handheld sized. From what the DigiDestined could see, there were pictures of different Digimon on the cards.

When the last card materialized, they all came together to form a deck. The deck shuffled and cut itself several times before splitting into two individual decks that floated into Gennai's hands.

"Thank you, my friends," he said, taking the two decks of cards. "That will be all."

"Good luck!" the Cardmon chorused.

They turned to Love Machine and stuck their tongues out at him before flying away. Gennai smiled as he watched them go before turning back to Love Machine and holding up the decks.

"We'll play a card game; Digimon Card Battle. The best of three games wins. And just so you know it's fair, I'll even let you choose the deck. Do you need me to explain the rules?"

Love Machine grumbled. From his body, a single avatar floated away from the whole. As it approached, the shadow lifted from it, and the others saw that it was a humanoid white rabbit wearing a red jacket and dark blue pants. Unknowingly to them, they were staring at a copy of the avatar for King Kazma.

Landing across from Gennai, the avatar held out its hand, and the deck in Gennai's right hand floated over to it.

"I'll take that as a no," Gennai replied.

The DigiDestined looked on as the game got underway.

"So that's what Gennai's doing," Kari noted. "He's trying to use Love Machine's gaming addiction to give us a chance later."

"But what's this card battle?" Davis asked. "I've never heard of it."

"It's a game that was developed in the Digital World," Gatomon explained. "A single game consists of two rounds. First they'll choose to see who goes first. This is the Start Phase."

Right on cue, two cards drifted into the air, facedown. Love Machine pointed to the card on the left, which flipped over to reveal a small dark purple Digimon. The other one flipped over to reveal a small white Digimon.

"He chose the Impmon card," said Gatomon. "If he had chosen the Calumon card, he would have gotten to go first, but since he didn't, Gennai gets to go first."

"Well, that's good," Kari replied.

"Actually," said Patamon, "it's a better advantage if your opponent goes first. You'll see why in a minute. Next comes the Draw Phase where they draw six cards from their decks."

Gennai and Love Machine went along as Patamon spoke, drawing their six cards.

"So now what?" Davis asked. "Do they just send out Digimon to battle?"

In his arms, Chibomon shook his head. "It's not that simple. You can't just summon Digimon. You'll need a certain number of S-Energies."

"Ok, what are those?"

Chibomon nodded in Gennai's direction. "Look at Gennai's hand. You'll see that each Digimon card has a colored border depending on what type it is. There are six different colors, white, blue, green, red, black, and brown. You get an S-Energy point for each color."

They looked at Gennai's Hand. He had two Digimon cards, a Greymon, and a Devimon. The Greymon card had a red border, and the Devimon card had a black border.

"So that means Gennai gets one red S-Energy and one black S-Energy?" Yolei asked.

"Right," Poromon confirmed. "You need those S-Energies to summon Digimon depending on their colored border. Rookies you can summon without any S-Energies. Champions require one, Ultimates need two, and Megas need three. Unless they have a brown border; those don't need S-Energies to summon."

"Got it," said Davis. "So since he has one red S-Energy and one black one, he can play both his Greymon card and his Devimon card. But if one of them had been an Ultimate or a Mega, he wouldn't have been able to play it because he didn't have enough S-Energies, right?"

"You got it," Chibomon told him. "But that part comes later. After the Draw Phase comes the Load Phase. This is when they use their Program cards. Look, Love Machine is playing one."

"Yes," said Gennai, looking at the card, "that's the Program card,  _Rusty Dust_. This allows him to send one of my brown-bordered Digimon to the Trash if I have any. Unfortunately, my friend, I do not. Would you care to play another card?"

The rabbit avatar simply shook its head. Gennai just shrugged. "Very well then, I'll pass as well. Lets move on, shall we?"

"That means the Summon Phase begins," Leafmon explained. "This is when they use their S-Energies to summon their Digimon."

"Indeed," Gennai agreed. "And since I have both a red and a black S-Energy, I will summon both Greymon and Devimon."

"Any additional unused S-Energies are saved for the next round," Leafmon continued as Gennai placed the two cards down. The Greymon card possessed an AP and HP of 20, and the Devimon card had one of 19 and 18. Love Machine's hand, however, was slightly more impressive. He possessed two Greymon and a Grizzlymon, the latter possessing an AP/HP of 15/15.

"Uh, oh, that's not good," said Upamon. "Love Machine's got a higher score."

"Higher score?" Cody asked.

"After you summon your Digimon, the AP and HP of all the ones on your side of the field are added together for an overall total."

Ken quickly did the math. "So Gennai's total AP is 39, and his HP is 38. Love Machine's is 55/55. Does that mean he lost?"

Leafmon shook his head. "No, not yet. Now comes the Compile Phase. This is when you use your remaining Program cards to power up your Digimon or weaken your opponents'. Watch."

Love Machine waved his hand, indicating that he was passing.

Gennai nodded. "Very well, I'll play the Program card  _Eclipse Undo_. This allows me to send one of my opponent's Digimon back to their hand. So, Love Machine, please take back one of your Greymon."

Love Machine grumbled as he picked up a Greymon card, dropping his total to 35/35. He growled and played a card from his own hand.

"Ah,  _Assault Armor_ ," said Gennai. "That raises one of his Digimon's AP by 10. I see you're using it on your remaining Greymon." Love Machine's total rose to 45/35, but Gennai didn't seem bothered by this as the A.I. gestured that he would pass.

"Not bad, but I've got something a little better. I play  _Gold Aura_. This allows me to add an additional 10 AP and HP to all my Digimon, raising my total to 49/48. But, just to be safe, I'll also play  _Chaos Virus_. This allows me to send one of my opponent's non-black Digimon to the Trash, and I think I'll use it on your Greymon."

The avatar's eyes narrowed as it discarded the Greymon, dropping Love Machine's total to 15/15.

"And now, just to be sure, I'll play a second  _Eclipse Undo_  and send your Grizzlymon back to your Hand as well. And with that, I'll pass."

With no Digimon on the Field, this dropped the total of both Love Machine AP and HP to 0.

"All right!" Patamon cheered. "Now the Battle Phase starts."

"Battle Phase?" TK asked.

"The total of Love Machine's AP would be deducted from the total of Gennai's HP, and vice versa. But since Love Machine has no Digimon, Gennai wins the round by default."

The young man nodded at Love Machine as they both put all their cards in the Trash pile. "Ready for round two?"

Love Machine just growled as the two starting cards were produced, and he chose the one on the left, once again selecting the Impmon card. They drew their cards, and the Load Phase began. The DigiDestined could only see Gennai's Hand, and based on the borders of the Digimon he held, his S-Energy score was two red, one black, and one green.

"Ok, I'll play this," said Gennai. " _Charge Terminal_. This allows me to draw two more cards."

Love Machine then played the same card, drawing two more from his own deck. Gennai then followed up by playing  _Vicious Hacking_. This not only allowed him to look at Love Machine's Hand, but also select one of his cards to send to the Trash.

The A.I. reluctantly showed Gennai his Hand. He saw that Love Machine held two Devimon cards, and chose one to send to the Trash. Love Machine did so without complaint, and decided to pass. With nothing else he could do, Gennai passed as well, and the Summon Phase began.

With the addition of the two cards Gennai drew, he summoned the Digimon Dinohumon 15/15, Kabuterimon 14/16, two Greymon 20/20 each, and Gesomon 11/8, for a total score of 70/79. Love Machine played only a single Devimon for a total of 19/18.

"All right!" Davis cheered. "Gennai's got this round in the bag!"

"Don't be so sure," TK warned. "Remember how quickly the tables were turned last round."

TK's words proved to be true as the Compile Phase began, and Love Machine played  _Protect Armor_ , adding an additional 10 HP to his Devimon for a total of 19/28. But Gennai followed up with by playing another  _Gold Aura_ , bringing his total to 130/129 before passing.

Love Machine then played the card  _Berserk Energy_. This increased one of Gennai's Digimon's AP by 10 but reduced its HP by the same amount. He chose to use it on Gennai's Gesomon, changing its already altered score of 21/18 to 31/8, leaving him with a total of 140/119.

"Didn't that help him?" Cody asked.

"Shh," Yolei shushed him. "Lets just see what he's planning."

Love Machine then played the card  _Summon Devimon_ , allowing him to do just that. With two Devimon on the Field, his total rose to 38/46. Unfortunately for him, there was nothing else he could do, and the A.I. was forced to pass. With the obvious higher total, Gennai claimed victory for the second round.

"Sweet!" Davis cried. "I told you he had it in the bag!"

"Does that mean he won?" Kari asked. "He won two out of three."

But Gatomon shook her head. "A single game is the best of three rounds, but Gennai said the best of three games. He only won the first. We've still got two more to go."

"Unless he wins the next game as well," Ken pointed out.

The two players mixed the cards in their Trash piles with their decks and shuffled before beginning the second game. This time, Love Machine selected the Calumon card, allowing him to go first. However, he chose to pass for the Load Phase.

"Very well," said Gennai, "then I'll play the Program card  _Vicious Hacking_. I assume you remember what this does."

The DigiDestined grinned as they remembered the card's affect, but Love Machine responded by playing the card  _Freeze Bug_.

"What's that do?" Cody asked.

"It sends a just played or drawn card to the Trash," Upamon told him.

Gennai just shrugged as his  _Vicious Hacking_  was countered, placing it in the Trash. He then played another card called  _Green Force_ , increasing his green S-Energy by two, and from the looks of his Hand, he needed it.

When the two played their Digimon cards, Gennai set down two Etemon cards, with an AP/HP score of 25/25 each. The DigiDestined were feeling confident with his Hand until they saw what Love Machine had. Apparently, he had been fortunate enough to draw several brown-bordered Digimon, and powerful ones at that. They consisted of BlackImperialdramon 50/40, BlackMegaGargomon 47/37, Boltmon 39/32, and Shakkoumon 32/34, giving him a total of 168/143 to Gennai's 50/50

The DigiDestined stared blankly at Love Machine's cards before Davis cried out, "No way! He's cheating! How could he get a Hand like that?"

But Gennai just shook his head. "There was no cheating Davis. It was just the luck of the draw. But don't count me out just yet. We still have the Compile Phase."

As Love Machine chose to pass, Gennai played  _Charge Terminal_ , letting him draw two more cards. He then played the card  _Control Parts_ , allowing him to steal one of Love Machine's Digimon, and he selected the strongest, BlackImperialdramon. This left the A.I. with a total of 118/103, and Gennai with 100/90.

"You see," he said, "the tide of battle can change very quickly." He looked at his Hand and sighed. "Unfortunately, there's nothing else I can do, so I'll have to pass."

The Battle Phase played out, reducing Gennai's HP to nothing while Love Machine still had a total of 3 HP left. The round went to Love Machine.

"Uh oh," Leafmon muttered.

"Don't worry," said Chibomon, "that was just the first round. As long as he doesn't win the next, we still have a chance."

For the second round, Love Machine ended up choosing Calumon again, but still chose to pass. Gennai selected a card from his Hand and laid it down. It was  _Charge Terminal_ again, and he drew two cards. He then followed up with another  _Green Force_ , earning him two more green S-Energies.

When the Summon Phase started, luck proved to be on Love Machine's side again as he ended up with four more powerful brown-bordered Digimon. This time they consisted of BlackWarGreymon 60/55, BlackKingNumemon 43/30, and two Shakkoumon 32/34, for a total of 167/153. Gennai's Hand was better than last time, but still more modest. His Digimon consisted of KingEtemon 38/35, MetalEtemon 35/35, and Etemon 25/25, for a total of 98/95.

"That's ok, Gennai!" Kari cheered. "We have faith in you!"

He winked at them as he played  _Gold Aura_ , increasing his total score to 128/125. But Love Machine shook his head and played the same card, increasing his total to 207/193.

"Cheater!" Davis shouted.

Love Machine glanced at him before playing another card called  _Fire Cannon_.

"Ooh, not good," said Poromon. "That reduces a Digimon's HP by 30."

And Love Machine targeted Gennai's Etemon, reducing its total to 35/5, and Gennai's total to 128/95.

"Good thing he rose its power already," Poromon continued. "If Etemon's HP had reached zero, it would have gone to the Trash."

Gennai just waved to them. "Don't worry, turnabout is fair play. I've got a  _Fire Rocket_  too, so I'll bring one of his Shakkoumon down from 42/44 to 42/14."

Kari looked at their scores as the Battle Phase began. "It's still not enough though."

They watched as the result of the battle brought Gennai's HP to 0 and left Love Machine's at 35. Having won both rounds, Love Machine claimed the win. That left both players with one win each.

"The next game will decide the winner," said Yolei. "If Gennai doesn't win, then we're finished."

But Davis didn't look worried. "Have a little faith. Gennai will wipe the floor with this guy; just you wait and see."

The third and last game began. This time Love Machine drew Impmon, and so Gennai went first, but both players decided to pass on the Load Phase and jump straight into the Summon Phase. When the Phase ended, Love Machine's Field contained Dinohumon 15/15, Kabuterimon 14/16, and Greymon for a total of 49/51. Gennai's Digimon consisted of Frigimon 12/13, Renamon 4/4, and two Gomamon 2/3, for a total of 20/23.

"Bad start," said Gatomon. "Lets hope the Compile Phase changes things."

Gennai ended up playing the card  _Summon Gomamon_ , allowing him to bring another to the field. He then played a second one, giving him a total of four Gomamon on the Field for a total of 24/29.

"He did it!" Patamon cried. "He got a combo!"

The DigiDestined glanced at him as TK asked, "What's a combo?"

"When you have four or more of the same Digimon on the field, you get the combination of their AP and HP, plus their current score, added to your both your AP and HP total in addition to what you already have."

Kari looked at the Gomamon. So 2 times 4 for the AP is 8, plus 3 times 4 for the HP is 12. That makes 20. And 20 plus 8, and 20 plus 12 would be an additional 28/32 to his total!"

With the combo bonus, Gennai's score rose to 52/61. But it was then that Love Machine played the card  _Chaos Virus_ , and he used this to send Gennai's Frigimon to the Trash, reducing his total to 20/28. He then followed up with the card  _Eclipse Undo_  to send Gennai's Renamon back to his hand, reducing his total even further to 16/24. He then ended with a  _Gold Aura_ , increasing the AP and HP of each of his Digimon by 10 for a total score of 79/81. Thus, when the Battle Phase began, it was Love Machine that received the victory point.

"Ok, ok," said Davis, "we still have a chance. You got this Gennai!"

This time Love Machine chose Calumon, but they both ended up passing over the Load Phase again. And once the Summoning Phase passed, it did not look good for Gennai. His Field had Kyubimon 15/16, Devimon 19/18, and Gesomon 11/8, for a total of 45/42. Love Machine's Field contained two Hookmon 15/15, Shellmon 13/15, Ikakkumon 13/13, Kyubimon 15/16, and Monmon 5/5 for a total of 76/79. The result made the DigiDestined gulp nervously.

"There's still a chance," said Poromon. "Love Machine's Hand had all Digimon, that means Gennai can still win if he has good Program cards."

"And that I do," he told them. "First I'll play  _Chaos Virus_  to send his Kyubimon to the Trash."

Once Love Machine removed his Kyubimon, Gennai played his trump card.

"That's  _Flame Gatlin_!" Gatomon cried happily.

Yolei looked at the card. "Um, ok, what's that do?"

"It delivers 15 damage to all Digimon on the Field!" Upamon cried, practically bouncing in Cody's arms.

Looking at Love Machine's Digimon, they saw that they all contained at most 15 HP. Even though Gennai's Gesomon had its HP reduced to zero, sending it to the Trash,  _all_  of Love Machine's Digimon had their HP brought to zero, they were all sent to the Trash, leaving Love Machine with no Digimon left and Gennai with a total of 34/4.

"Gennai wins this round by default!" Chibomon cheered. "Just one more and we win it all!"

"Yup," Davis agreed. "Keep your fingers crossed." He looked down at Chibomon, who consisted of only a head. "Or whatever you have."

The Start Phase began, and Love Machine selected Impmon, allowing Gennai to go first. He decided to pass on the Load Phase, and, after a moment's hesitation, so did Love Machine.

During the Summon Phase, Love Machine summoned Devimon 19/18, while Gennai brought forth Ogremon 14/12, Veemon 4/4, and Goblimon 1/2 for a total of 19/18.

Chibomon pouted slightly as he stared at the Veemon cared. "I'm stronger than that."

"It's tie," said TK, ignoring him. "What happens during a tie?"

"The one who got the Calumon card would win," Patamon told him. "But don't forget that there's still the Compile Phase. That's what will decide the match."

Smirking, Gennai placed down the  _Fire Cannon_  card. His target was the only Digimon Love Machine had, and the Devimon card was sent to the Trash, leaving the A.I. with no Digimon. But the avatar simply shook a finger at Gennai and played a  _Summon Devimon_  card, allowing him to bring a replacement Devimon to the field.

"Touché," Gennai told him, still smiling. "Guess I'll have to pass."

Love Machine stared at him for a few seconds before playing one final Program card. It was  _Eclipse Undo_ , and he used it to send Gennai's Ogremon back to his Hand. This brought Gennai's total scored down to 5/6 as Love Machine passed.

The Battle Phase passed, reducing Gennai's score to zero, and Love Machine claimed the victory for the match. He had now won two out of three games. Love Machine had won the bet.

The DigiDestined couldn't believe what they were seeing. Gennai had actually lost? But how could he lose? He'd been so confident. They had believed that he would win no matter what. They didn't think he would rig the decks, hide cards up his sleeves, or try any other methods of cheating, but they had been sure he would come out on top.

"He… He lost…?" Kari stammered.

"But… that's not how this was supposed to work!" Davis cried.

Yolei looked at them questioningly. "Does this mean that Love Machine is going to eat Gennai and the Digimentals?"

Her question remained unanswered as Gennai held up his hands in defeat. "Well, that's it, I guess he beat me."

The avatar made no show of its victory as it simply floated back towards Love Machine's main body and rejoined the others. The A.I. made a grumbling noise and loomed over Gennai expectantly.

"No!" Kari cried. "Gennai, get out of there!"

He turned to look at her, but, strangely enough, he was still smiling. "Not to worry. This was never about the card game." He looked back the A.I. "Sorry, Love Machine, but it looks like it's actually my win."

The A.I.'s eyes narrowed and it roared at him.

"The game wasn't the card battle," Gennai told him. "I took a gamble to buy time, and it paid off in the end. That was the real game, and you lost."

He pointed in the distance. Love Machine turned to see he was pointing at the Digimon Sovereigns. The four of them were floating in the air, Ebonwumon floating above Zhuqiaomon with Baihumon on their left and Azulongmon on their right, each on their proper latitude and longitude positions on the map.

Flying beside each Sovereign were various flying Digimon. Sitting on top of each Digimon was one of the duplicates Gennai had made of himself that had assisted the DigiDestined on their world tour quest to send the Digimon that had wondered into the Real World back to the Digital World. They were all in a meditative state, chanting as they poured their power into the Digimon Sovereigns.

Love Machine roared at them and began heading over to where they were. As he approached, the blue, red, green, and white auras surrounding the Sovereigns swirled around the four of them. The colors mixed together and turned a golden yellow. The forms of the Sovereigns were lost amongst the aura as it grew in intensity.

Something appeared within the aura, a massively large golden dragon Digimon that was over twice the size of Azulongmon. Eight red eyes glared at Love Machine as the dragon bared its fangs at him. Love Machine roared at the Digimon, watching as it opened its mouth, gathering energy within for a powerful attack.

" _Taikyoku!"_  the giant Digimon bellowed, unleashing the energy in a powerful golden beam.

The attack tore through the air, seeming to rip through the very fabric of space and time itself. Love Machine roared as the massive beam struck him and erupted in an almighty blast that consumed everything in a blinding flash of golden light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: Ok, allow me to explain. There was a game for the first PlayStation called "Digimon World 3". Has anyone every played it? It's a lot of fun. You play as a Digimon Tamer that saves the Digital World from an evil conspiracy group. In the game, you can also collect Digimon cards and have card battles with other Digimon Tamers. This was the game that Gennai played with Love Machine in this chapter. I'll post the rules and list of cards as an extra chapter at the end of this story. But the game itself was actually meant to be a diversion from Gennai's copies saving the Sovereigns. And with Love Machine's inability to resist games and his competitive nature, he fell for it. I know it was a little Yu-Gi-Oh-ish, but I wanted to include it. The game was actually pretty difficult to write, so I used a few YouTube videos of "Digimon World 3" card battles as a reference. As for that giant golden dragon Digimon that attacked him at the very end, that will be explained in the next chapter. But does this mean that Love Machine has been destroyed? You'll have to wait to find out.)


	10. More Games

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: Ok, this chapter is a little shorter than I would have preferred, but last chapter was longer than usual, so it about evens out. Hopefully I'll be answering your questions in regards to what happened last chapter. I'll explain more in the Author's Note at the bottom.)
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**Chapter 10: More Games**

The light was slow to die down, as was the thundering sound of the blast, leaving a loud ringing noise in everyone's ears. The DigiDestined were left with temporary blurry vision and deaf ears.

As the seconds ticked by, their hearing and vision slowly returned to normal. They looked to the battle between Love Machine and the giant golden dragon Digimon, but both were nowhere to be seen. Davis' mouth moved in a question that went by unheard over everyone's ringing ears.

"Sorry, what was that?" Gennai asked, wiggling a finger around in his ear to try and rid it of the deafening clogged feeling.

"I said, what just happened?" Davis practically shouted, his voice coming through as their hearing returned to normal.

Gennai smiled. "Nothing much. I was just providing Love Machine with a distraction he couldn't resist while my other selves restored the Sovereigns' strength as much as they could. Oh, here's your D-Terminals back."

Yolei gave him a strange look as she and the others took back the devices. "But the Sovereigns, what happened to them? And Love Machine, and that golden dragon? What was it anyway?"

"Ah," said Gennai, "that was Huanglongmon, the Yellow Dragon of the Center. He's the leader of Sovereigns who watches over the entire Digital World. All four Sovereigns DNA Digivolve together in order to form him."

TK's eyes were as wide as saucers. "All four? That's amazing! You mean that more than just two Digimon can Digivolve together at once?"

Gennai chuckled. "Of course, if they're compatible. There are actually many forms of Digivolution other than the ones you guys have witnessed, and I'm sure more will be discovered in the future."

"Wow," said Cody, "someone born from the DNA Digivolution of all four Digimon Sovereigns must truly be a force to be reckoned with."

"Yeah, no kidding," Upamon agreed. "He completely vaporized Love Machine with a single attack."

Kari began looking around, as if she expected to find something. "But where did he go? How could a Digimon of that size just disappear like that?"

"Not to worry," Gennai reassured her. "Huanglongmon finished his duty of defeating Love Machine, so he simply separated into the four Sovereigns again, and now they've returned to their realms to recover from the battle. I think it's safe to say that Love Machine's strength was even greater than what they had expected."

"Boy, I'll say," Chibomon agreed. "Who'd have thought that that creepy little thing we met back in Primary Village would become so powerful."

"Speaking of which," Davis wondered out loud, "why'd they wait so long to come fight him anyway? I mean, the four of them have got to be some of the most powerful Digimon of all. Why do they even need us to keep the peace? Couldn't they just easily take care of any evil Digimon that start causing trouble?"

"They have their own duties and roles to fulfill," Gennai explained. "The Sovereigns are meant to watch over the Digital World and guide those in it, not get involved with everything that takes place. Just as your God doesn't directly get involved with what goes on in your world, the Sovereigns also act through others and work behind the scenes. This, however, was a special case where they were forced to step in. Love Machine had become too powerful, even surpassing them. They had to do something before it was too late."

"I get it," said Yolei. "If the Sovereigns fought all our battles for us, we'd become dependent on them and never learn to stand on our own feet."

"But when faced with a truly impossible situation, they came to our aid," Poromon finished for her.

Gennai chuckled. "Yes, something alone those lines. But even the Sovereigns' strength, as great as it is, is still limited. With all the evil Digimon causing trouble, the Sovereigns would always be fighting them off, and eventually they would run out of power. Their duties as rulers are too important to the Digital World for that to happen, so they rely on others."

Davis beamed. "Well, we're happy to be of service. We'll make sure nothing like this ever happens again. Right, Chibomon?"

"You got it, Davis!"

Ken stepped forward. "Love Machine may have been beaten, but we still haven't stopped him yet. Don't forget how quickly he developed. We need to get back to Primary Village before his Digi-Egg, or whatever he has, hatches and the whole thing starts all over again."

Leafmon looked up at him. "I don't think we need to worry about that too much. I doubt Elecmon will let that happen again. He's probably roaming around the village looking for Love Machine's Digi-Egg in case he reappears."

Gennai's expression became more serious. "Yes, I'm sure Elecmon is on top of things. Nevertheless, you're still right, Ken. We need to figure out what we're going to do with Love Machine while we still can. If he gets as strong as he did before, I don't think that-"

Something burst from his chest. A look of shock appeared on his face as screams of surprise came from the DigiDestined. Going into his back and sticking out his front was a ray of light, piercing straight through his torso.

"Gennai!" the DigiDestined cried.

A look of surprise and pain was painted on his face as he dropped to his knees, then fell face forward to the ground. The golden arrow sticking out his back dissolved into light particles and disappeared, leaving him with a wound in his back and chest. The DigiDestined rushed to his side to carefully turn him over.

Gatomon's eyes were wide with horror. "That arrow…" she whispered. "That was my Angewomon form's _Celestial Arrow_  attack."

"But…" TK muttered, "but that means that…"

They looked up in the direction the arrow had come from. There, hovering in the sky, was Love Machine in his form prior to the giant monster made of the millions of avatars. Huanglongmon's attack hadn't destroyed him, it had only reverted him back to his previous form.

The A.I.'s thumb and index finger were extended in the gesture of a gun after having shot the arrow. Bringing his hand to his grinning mouth, he moved his head slightly in a motion to suggest he was blowing the smoke away from a recently fired gun.

"Love Machine," Ken growled. "He's still alive."

Yolei's eyes were wide and fearful. "But how? How'd he survive that attack?"

"Looks like even Huanglongmon underestimated him," Cody surmised.

"More like even he wasn't strong enough to beat him," Poromon reluctantly added.

Love Machine came down from the sky and landed a distance away. He pointed a finger at the wounded Gennai and shook it, as if silently reprimanding a naughty child.

Despite the situation, Gennai couldn't help but grin. "Yes, you're right. Looks like it's your victory after all, my friend. I played my best hand, and I lost."

He began coughing, spitting up some blood in the process as Kari put pressure on his wound to try and stop the bleeding.

"We need a doctor," she said, "or some Digimon with a healing ability."

Davis looked around at where they were. "I don't think that's all that likely."

"Where's his copies?" Chibomon asked.

Gennai coughed some more. "They won't be able to help. They used up all their strength to heal the Sovereigns."

"That's it!" Cody cried. "We need to call the Sovereigns back! How do we do it?"

TK's fists clenched. "I don't think that's an option. Gennai said they had to return to their realms to recover. I don't think they have enough strength to come back and fight, not even with Love Machine in his current form."

Gatomon's eyes shifted back to Love Machine, the horror in them from earlier now replaced with fury. "Then I'll fight!" she declared, rushing forward. She pointed at the A.I. threateningly. "I'll be your opponent!"

Kari jumped up from Gennai's side. "Gatomon, you can't! He's too strong!"

The cat Digimon didn't even bother to look back at her. "Then what should we do? Just give up? Just roll over and die? No way, I can't do that. I'm still in my Champion form; I'm the only one who can still fight."

Patamon jumped off TK's shoulder and flew to her side. "I can fight too. I may not be of much use, but at least I can do more than blow bubbles; no offense guys."

"None taken," the In-Training and Baby Digimon replied, secretly grateful that they wouldn't have to keep fighting the A.I.

Love Machine cocked his head to the side, seeming to consider the two Digimon. Leaving his staff to stand on its own beside him, he held up his hands until they were level with his chest. Energy began gathering in between his hands, and a golden ball of light appeared.

"No…" Gennai moaned. "No, not that."

Davis noted the panicked look on Gennai's face. "What? What is it?"

"That attack, it's Huanglongmon's  _Taikyoku_  attack; the one he was just hit by. It's a devastatingly powerful attack that disassembles everything it hits into the two extremes of light and darkness until there's nothing left!"

The DigiDestined looked at the attack Love Machine held. With such a disastrous attack, it was no wonder Love Machine, even as strong as he had been, had been reduced from his colossal giant form back down to his current one.

"If that attack hits the ground," Gennai continue, "then this entire continent will be completely obliterated. There will be nothing left."

Patamon glared at the A.I. "As if I'd let that happen.  _Boom Bubble!"_

The attack burst against Love Machine's chest. He glanced down to where it hit, then looked back at the two Digimon and raised the gathering of energy over his head to unleash it.

"No you don't!" Gatomon cried.  _"Cat Laser!"_

She fired a beam at him. It struck the A.I. in the face, snapping his head back. For a few moments, he remained still with his head staring up at the sky, as if the attack had actually done some damage, then moved it to look back at them again, a mocking look in his eye. He cracked his neck arrogantly and prepared to fire his attack.

Taking a deep breath, Ken took a step forward. "I thought you had a more competitive spirit than that!" he shouted at the A.I.

Love Machine's attention shifted from Gatomon and Patamon to him, and he cocked his head to the side questioningly.

"Don't you like games?" Ken asked. "Or do you just quit in the middle of it You might have he upper hand now, but Gatomon and Patamon are still willing to keep going. Yet you're just going to put an end to the game before it's over. Some gamer you are. Where's your fighting spirit? The game isn't over until a winner is decided. Or are you just being a poor sport because Gennai and Huanglongmon got the jump on you? Come on, Love Machine, let's finish this for real."

The A.I. stared at him for several seconds. The attack he held slowly died out as he lowered his hands. Grabbing his staff, he turned his attention back to Gatomon and Patamon, pointing it at them in challenge.

The DigiDestined breathed temporarily sighs of relief that Love Machine had decided to cease his attack for now. It seemed they had managed to buy themselves some more time.

"That was some quick thinking, Ken," Cody praised.

"Thanks," he muttered. "I'd hoped Love Machine's competitive spirit would make him want to continue. He may enjoy games, but he also doesn't like to lose."

"And he can't be declared the winner if he ends the game before its finished," Gennai finished in understanding. "Well done. But as things stand, the odds aren't exactly in our favor."

"At least he managed to stop Love Machine from destroying everything," Davis pointed out. "Even if we do lose, maybe he won't use that attack afterwards. Maybe we'll have at least done that much."

Gennai shook his head. "We can't chance it. We have to stop Love Machine here and now. No matter what it takes."

He raised his hand, and a gold aura surrounded his body. The same aura appeared around Gatomon and Patamon as well, and their strength began to return.

"Hey, I can feel my strength returning," said Patamon.

"Yeah, me too," said Gatomon.

The DigiDestined looked at Gennai worriedly.

"Gennai, what are you doing?" Cody demanded.

"Giving them whatever strength I have left," he replied.

"You can't!" Yolei shouted. "Not with that injury! If you give up any more of your power, then you'll-"

"It's too late for me anyway," Gennai told her. "At least this way I can still be of some help. It's up to you now, my friends. Good luck."

His body glowed brightly with a golden light, then burst into data particles and vanished. And with that, Gennai was gone. Their long time friend and mentor had just disappeared without a trace.

The DigiDestined couldn't believe it. Gennai had been with even the previous generation of DigiDestined since practically the beginning of their adventures in the Digital World. Even long before the DigiDestined had ever came to be, he had been there, aiding and guiding the forces of good. They had thought that he would always be there for them.

"Gennai…" Kari whispered as tears ran down her cheeks. "Gennai, no…"

"He's gone," TK muttered, equally as stunned. "He's really gone."

"No!" Yolei cried, openly weeping. "He can't be!"

Davis' nails dug into his palms as he shouted his grief to the sky. "GENNAI!"

Love Machine watched their reactions with interest, but his attention soon shifted back to Gatomon and Patamon as the two glowed with the light of Digivolution.

"You'll pay for this, Love Machine," Patamon swore. "This may all just be a game to you, but to us, it's all real. We'll make sure no one else suffers because of you."

"And don't think you can take advantage of us by making us Dark Digivolve," Gatomon told him. "We're not going to let our anger get the best of us. We're in this to protect our friends.  _Gatomon Digivolve to… Angewomon!"_

" _Patamon Digivolve to… Angemon! Angemon Digivolve to… MagnaAngemon!"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: So, yes, a very sad ending there. Poor Gennai, but a monumental part of a hero growing into their role is the loss of their mentor; I read that somewhere in a book on literature. But at least he was able to give Gatomon and Patamon some power. They may only be at the Ultimate level, but MagnaAngemon and Angewomon are both uniquely strong Digimon that are close in strength to Megas. Also, even though Love Machine is incredibly powerful, even he gets tired and weak eventually, and he has been fighting a lot. Speaking of which, I'd like to bring up Huanglongmon {or Huanglongmon for his Japanese name}. If you've seen Season 6, I'm sure you'll remember his appearance as Dorbickmon's steed. This Season actually greatly reduced his power and size from what it truly is to the point where it was pretty much insulting. He's not the only one they did that to for that Season. Another example was MarineDevimon, who was only about a head taller than Nene and barely strong at all, yet in all other appearances, such as in Daemon's Corps, he's immensely powerful and is the size of a building. They also made much weaker Digimon a lot stronger than they should be, to the point where they had Rookies and Champions holding their own against Megas. I honestly have no idea what they were thinking with Season 6. Really, go look Huanglongmon up on the Digimon website, and you'll see how powerful he really is. He's created from fusing all four Sovereigns together, is over twice the size of Azulongmon, and is strong enough to destroy and recreate the Digital World at will. He's even been called a god himself, and there's only like 3 Digimon that are stronger than him. So, yeah, in his brief appearance here, I had him as he truly is. Anyway, stay tuned for the final confrontation with Love Machine. He still has all the attacks he's learned, but hopefully he's been weakened enough for MagnaAngemon and Angewomon to defeat him.)


	11. Faith In Angels

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: We're coming down to the wire. The DigiDestined's partner Digimon have fallen, the Sovereigns failed, and even Gennai is dead. There's one chance left, and it's not exactly in their favor. If Love Machine isn't stopped her and now, there will truly be no stopping him. It's up to MagnaAngemon and Angewomon to save the day. Though they're high-powered Ultimates, they have a very difficult battle ahead of them, with the fate of the Digital World once again as the prize.)
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**Chapter 11: Faith In Angels**

When it came to the norm, an Ultimate was no match for a Mega, and that was the level of power Izzy had placed Love Machine at in his current form. However, there were a select few cases where a certain Digimon's power was so great that its strength allowed it to exceed or stand on par with a Digimon of an even higher level.

This was such the case with MagnaAngemon and Angewomon. Though only at the Ultimate level, they both possessed power strong enough to rival that of a Mega. Added to the weariness that Love Machine must be feeling at this point, along with all the damage he had taken, the two angel Digimon had a chance to beat him.

At least that's what the DigiDestined had told themselves. They needed some form of hope for the future, and who better to give them that than the very two empowered by Hope and Light.

As the two angel Digimon flew towards Love Machine, Angewomon fired the very same attack that had led to Gennai's death.  _"Celestial Arrow!"_

Love Machine used his staff to bat the attack away as MagnaAngemon rushed at him.  _"Flying Sword of Justice!"_

Holding up his staff, Love Machine blocked the glowing purple blade. MagnaAngemon continued to push forward, but the A.I. held him back, seemingly struggling.

" _Heaven's Charm!"_  Angewomon cried.

The cross-shaped ray of light flew towards the two combatants. At the last moment, MagnaAngemon leapt away, leaving Love Machine to take the attack head on. He was blasted backwards, but recovered quickly and charged at the female angel Digimon.

Jumping up, he brought his staff down. Angewomon caught the end, holding it back. Love Machine kicked out at her, and she leapt away. But rather than pursuing, the A.I. held up his hand and unleashed Imperialdramon's  _Positron Laser_.

As the attack approached, MagnaAngemon quickly rushed in.  _"Excalibur!"_  he cried, swinging his arm with the blade on it, cutting through the beam of energy. Love Machine's attention shifted to him and he raised his hand. From up above, massive forms of black crystal rained down as he copied Ebonwumon's  _Black Hail_  attack.

Fleeing to avoid getting crushed by the giant crystals, the DigiDestined looked at Love Machine worriedly.

"Did you see that?" said Cody. "He can still use the attacks he learned in his giant form."

"I know," TK grumbled. "I was hoping he could only use the attacks in the form he learned them in, but I guess that was hoping for too much."

MagnaAngemon and Angewomon didn't have time to worry about that as they maneuvered around the giant crystal structures falling down around them. Love Machine had flown into the crystal storm as well, kicking off the giant structures as he leapt around.

Coming up behind MagnaAngemon, he began firing Paildramon's  _Desperado Blaster_. A few bullets grazed the angel Digimon's wings before he began flying around to avoid them, made all the more difficult by the falling crystals.

Ceasing fire to avoid being hit by a crystal himself, Love Machine fired Shakkoumon's  _Justice Beam_. MagnaAngemon held up his shield to defend himself as the beam came at him.

" _Shield and Counter!"_  he cried as the beam struck his shield. He struggled for a few moments before repelling the attack, sending it back at Love Machine. The A.I. was caught off guard by having his own attack turned against him and was knocked back.

"MagnaAngemon, above you!" Angewomon cried in warning.  _"Heaven's Charm!"_

A massively large crystal that had been about to come down on MagnaAngemon shattered. Smaller crystals rained down, and the angel Digimon covered his head to protect himself.

"I appreciate that," he told her. He spotted Love Machine coming up behind her. "Allow me to return the favor.  _Soul Vanisher!"_

He unleashed a wave of purifying energy. Love Machine retaliated with Zhuqaiomon's  _Sonic Zephyr._  The shockwave stopped MagnaAngemon's attack as if it were a solid wall while at the same time causing the falling black crystals to shatter and blasting the two angel Digimon back.

The crystal rain stopped, and Love Machine came down and landed on the massive pile. Some of the crystals shifted, and MagnaAngemon and Angewomon dug themselves out. Breathing heavily, they stared up at the A.I. on the top of the pile as if he were king of the hill.

"He's a menace," MagnaAngemon grumbled. "We need to stop him before this gets out of hand."

"It already has," Angewomon replied. "But I know what you mean. I'll try providing him with a distraction while you attack.  _Holy Air!"_

A ring of energy suddenly appeared around Love Machine, binding his arms to his side. MagnaAngemon rushed at him as the A.I. struggled to free himself.  _"Excalibur!"_

He brought his sword down, just as Love Machine broke free of the ring of energy. He held up his staff and blocked the attack. MagnaAngemon pulled back and attacked again, only to have Love Machine block again.

Raising his sword again, he shouted,  _"Excali-burst!"_  His sword grew larger and began shining brightly with pure energy. He brought it down, and as Love Machine raised his staff to block, he cut straight through it. The swipe itself just missed grazing the A.I.'s face and torso, but MagnaAngemon whirled around and kicked him square in the head.

Stumbling back, Love Machine looked at his broken staff, then back at MagnaAngemon. The angel Digimon pointed his blade at him threateningly as Angewomon returned to his side. Love Machine looked back and forth between the two before pointing his index finger at them. A gathering of energy formed at the tip in the shape of a sphere as he prepared to attack.

Beneath his helmet, MagnaAngemon's eyes widened as he recognized the attack. "Flee!"

The two angel Digimon took to the air as Love Machine fired Imperialdramon's  _Giga Crusher._  Glancing up at them, he placed his hand against his mouth and motioned as if he were blowing a kiss while firing Wormmon's  _Sticky Net_. The web snagged onto Angewomon's leg, and Love Machine pulled her down from the sky and slammed her to the ground.

Putting the two broken ends of his staff together, Love Machine repaired it as he charged at the fallen Digimon. Angewomon rolled onto her back and saw him leaping towards her with his staff raised.

" _Celestial Arrow!"_  she cried, firing an arrow of light.

Love Machine batted it away, and the hologram of Imperialdramon's  _Omni Sword_  appeared in his other hand. As he came down towards Angewomon, MagnaAngemon slammed into his side, kicking him away from her. Love Machine whirled around in mid-air and turned to face him.

Moving in front of his companion protectively, MagnaAngemon glanced at her. "Are you all right?"

Angewomon climbed to her feet. "Never better."

Love Machine regarded them for a few moments before leaving his staff to stand on its own and holding out his hand. Light blue energy gathered in his left hand as bronze energy gathered in his right. Two different colored beams burst from his hands as he fired Azulongmon's  _Aurora Force_  and Baihumon's  _Bronze Cannon_ , the two attacks tearing the land apart in different directions, heedless of what was in their path.

"You fiend!" MagnaAngemon shouted at the senseless destruction, and charged at him.

As the angel Digimon recklessly sped towards him, Love Machine ceased his attacks and pointed to the sky. He unleashed Azulongmon's  _Blue Thunder_  attack, and lightning struck. MagnaAngemon skidded to a halt as the ground exploded in front of him, raising a dust cloud.

A beam of gold light flew from the cloud as Love Machine fired Baihumon's  _Gold Strength_  attack. MagnaAngemon's shoulder was struck, and he was suddenly blinded as most of his upper torso was encased in metal.

"MagnaAngemon!" Angewomon shouted. She glared at Love Machine and moved so her comrade was out of range.  _"Heaven's Charm!"_

Rather than attempting to avoid the attack, Love Machine flew straight at it while copying MagnaAngemon's  _Shield and Counter_  attack. The  _Heaven's Charm_  was reversed on her, sending her flying backwards from the blast. She managed to stop her momentum, and Love Machine was instantly upon her. He swung his staff, rattling her head inside her helmet.

The A.I.'s hand shot out, grabbing her by the hair, and she cried out in pain. He slammed her to the ground and then leapt into the air and fired ExVeemon's  _Vee-Laser_  down at her. She cried out as it struck her back.

MagnaAngemon, meanwhile, was trying to peel off the layer of metal covering his body. The DigiDestined were trying to help, but were unsuccessful in getting it off. Even Chibomon's  _Acid Bubbles_  and Leafmon's  _Acidic Bubbles_  did nothing against it.

"Stand back," he told them. "Let me try something.  _Magna Antidote!_ "

Healing light emitted from his body, and the metal that was covering him dissolved, releasing him from its confinement.

"Should have tried that from the start," he muttered.

"MagnaAngemon, hurry!" Kari cried, looking at her partner. "Angewomon's in trouble!"

He turned to see the female angel Digimon lying on the ground, her back smoking from where Love Machine's attack had hit. His face twisted with anger, and he flew towards the A.I.  _"Excalibur!"_

He swung his sword, but Love Machine's hand shot out, catching the blade.

" _Excali-burst!"_

His sword flashed with power, and he began pushing back, his blade inching towards Love Machine's face. The A.I.'s other hand dropped his staff, leaving it floating in the air, and made a claw. It shot forward, his fingers stabbing into the angel Digimon's chest while unleashing Gatomon's  _Lightning Claw_  attack, earning an agonized groan from MagnaAngemon.

Angewomon struggled to get up. Seeing Love Machine and her fellow angel Digimon in the air. She took aim with a  _Celestial Arrow_  and let it fly.

Seeing the arrow of light coming, Love Machine fired Imperialdramon's  _Positron Laser_  against MagnaAngemon, blasting him away. Grabbing his staff, he used it to knock away Angewomon's arrow, then pointed a finger at her.

A dark mist emitted from his body as he copied Ebonwumon's  _Misty Illusion_  attack. The mist flew down towards Angewomon. She flew up to avoid it, but with a motion of Love Machine's finger, the mist followed her into the air. It moved faster than she did, and flowed over her. Her flight slowed to a stop, and her eyes glazed over beneath her helmet as the mist took affect.

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

_She was Salamon once again, and she was lost in a dark place. No one else was around, but she could feel another's presence._

" _Kari!" she cried. "Patamon! TK! Davis! Veemon! Yolei! Ken! Can anybody hear me?"_

" _I can hear you, my pet."_

_A shiver went up her spine at the familiar voice that she hoped to never hear again. As if a spotlight had been turned on, a figure appeared a short distance away._

" _Did you miss me?" the vampire Digimon asked mockingly._

" _M-Myotismon!" she gasped. "It can't be! How are you here?"_

_The evil Digimon chuckled. "Did you really think that I wouldn't come back for you?"_

" _B-B-But you can't be here! We destroyed you! You couldn't have possibly reached the Ultimate level again so quickly after being reborn. That should take centuries!"_

_Myotismon openly laughed at that. "Haven't you figured out by now that I've taken steps to prevent having to start over as a Digi-Egg? When you first thought you destroyed me, I went through the Death X-Evolution to Digivolve to VenomMyotismon. When you destroyed me once again, my data still survived, enabling me to possess Owikawa until I used the Dark Spores to revive and Digivolve even further to MaloMyotismon. Did you think that I wouldn't have yet another backup plan in case that failed as well? You should know me better than that by now, my pet. And now you shall pay for what you've done to me._ Crimson Lightning!"

_He lashed out with a stream of electrified blood. Salamon cried out as she was struck and went flying. As she crashed down, another spotlight flicked on, this one illuminating a much larger Digimon she had fallen in front of._

" _Aww, did the little traitor hurt herself?" they mocked._

_Salamon jumped to her feet and scrabbled away from it. Before her stood VenomMyotismon. She turned around to see Myotismon behind her, then looked back to his Digivolved form._

" _What's going on?" she wondered out loud._

_The Mega level Digimon chuckled. "I told you, I took steps. The power I absorbed from the Dark Spores has given me the ability to copy my data and duplicate myself, just as Diaboromon was able to do on the Internet."_

_Salamon took a step back. "What? Copy?"_

_A third light came on, shining on MaloMyotismon. "Yes, copies, my dear. As in more than one. Only I think you'll find my copies to be far more durable and more real than Diaboromon's. artificial duplicates."_

" _Indeed," Myotismon agreed. "Now witness the futility of you situation."_

_He snapped his fingers and more lights came on, each one illuminating either another Myotismon, VenomMyotismon, or MaloMyotismon._

_Fear raced through Salamon as she looked at all these laughing copies. This was just like her nightmares, only on a much larger scale. But she refused to show how afraid she really was, choosing to put on a brave front as she let her anger and hatred for Myotismon and his copies show._

" _I'm not afraid of you! Once I Digivolve, I'll get rid of all of you!"_

" _Oh?" all the copies chorused together. "And just how are you planning to do that without your human partner?"_

_Another light came on, and the dead mangled bodies of the DigiDestined appeared. A horrifying feeling of sickening dread ran through Salamon as she stared at the corpses of her friends._

" _NOOOOO! Kari! Everyone!"_

_The copies laughed. "They were no match for us. And once the humans were dealt with, their Digimon couldn't Digivolve. We easily took care of them. And now it's your turn."_

"Grisly Wing!" _cried the Myotismon._

"Chaos Flame!" _cried the VenomMyotismon._

"Screaming Darkness!" _cried the MaloMyotismon._

_Salamon screamed in pain as she was consumed by the onslaught of attacks._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: Angewomon, or Salamon now, is in a bad place. Both she and MagnaAngemon were holding their own against Love Machine, or at least not getting killed, but now she's lost in an illusion that seems all too real, and MagnaAngemon is facing the A.I. all alone. If the two of them were just holding on before, they'll be no chance for them now that MagnaAngemon is fighting alone. Something better change, and son, or Salamon's vision will become all too real, only it will be Love Machine, not Myotismon, standing over the dead bodies of her friends. We're almost done, so stay tuned for more.)


	12. Game Over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: We're coming down to the wire now. It's the last Angewomon trapped in her own personal nightmare, MagnaAngemon is left to fight alone. Love Machine is ready to bring this game to a close. Lets see who the winner will be.)
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**Chapter 12: Game Over**

"Angewomon, snap out of it!" MagnaAngemon shouted up at her.

The female angel Digimon was floating in the air with Love Machine's version of Ebonwumon's  _Misty Illusion_  surrounding her. She was so lost in whatever it was she was experiencing that she couldn't even hear his voice.

"I'll free you from the illusion," MagnaAngemon called up to her, not daring to enter the mist, lest he be caught up in a vision as well.  _"Magna Antido-"_

Love Machine suddenly plowed into him, interrupting his healing. The angel Digimon turned to him, only to have the A.I. hit him with his staff. Holding up his hand, Love Machine unleashed Imperialdramon's  _Super Positron Laser_ , blasting MagnaAngemon away from Angewomon, leaving her to beat the illusion on her own.

Curling up into a ball, Love Machine copied Armadillomon's  _Diamond Shell_  attack as he rushed towards the male angel Digimon. MagnaAngemon swung his sword at him, but Love Machine weaved out of the way, shooting straight up and coming down on him, sending MagnaAngemon speeding towards the ground. Uncurling, he fired Angemon's  _Hand of Fate_  down at the falling Digimon, but MagnaAngemon used his  _Shield and Counter_  to reverse it, and the beam slammed into Love Machine's face.

Taking control of his fall, MagnaAngemon kicked off the ground with an additional boost from his  _Magna Jump_  and shot up towards Love Machine, punching him square in his smirking mouth. He swung his blade, but Love Machine blocked with his staff.

Pulling back, Love Machine raised his staff, and it began glowing brightly as he copied MagnaAngemon's  _Excali-burst_. He brought it down, and MagnaAngemon moved his blade to catch the blow, but the additional power in the staff knocked his blade right back into his own face, his helmet, thankfully, protecting him from being cut. Beams suddenly flew out of Love Machine's eyes as he copied Shakkoumon's  _Justice Beam_ , blasting MagnaAngemon downward and skidding him across the ground.

Landing down where the skid mark began, Love Machine began carelessly skipping over towards the fallen angel Digimon. MagnaAngemon struggled to get up as the A.I. playfully approached. He pointed his blade at him and charged, but Love Machine jumped up and landed on the blade, balancing on the end. Whirling around, he delivered Imperialdramon's  _Dragon Kick_  to the side of MagnaAngemon's head, sending him crashing into the trees.

Glancing up at Angewomon, Love Machine saw that she was still completely lost in her illusion. He causally strolled over to the trees MagnaAngemon had crashed into, only to have the angel Digimon come charging out of the vegetation towards him. He swung his blade, but Love Machine jumped up to avoid it, and retaliated by firing Stingmon's  _Moon Shooter_  down at him.

MagnaAngemon cut the giant needle in half before he was struck and flew up towards the A.I.  _"Flying Sword of Justice!"_

Love Machine made to grab something out of thin air, and a hologram of Imperialdramon's  _Omni Sword_  appeared in his free hand. He used it to block MagnaAngemon's attack before lashing out with his staff. The angel Digimon used his shield to block, and Love Machine kicked out, knocking his blade out of the way, giving him a free opening. He swung the hologram of the  _Omni Sword,_  severally damaging one of MagnaAngemon's wings.

Crying out, MagnaAngemon fell from the sky. He landed with a  _thud_ , groaning in pain. When he tried to rise, he fell back down. Most alarmingly, his body briefly became pixelated as he struggled to hold his Ultimate form.

"He's maxed out," Ken noted. "He won't last much longer." He glanced at the duplicate of Imperialdramon's sword in Love Machine's hand. "And the fact that the Omni Sword resets a Digimon's configuration data didn't help."

Kari looked up at her partner. "And Angewomon's still trapped in that illusion."

Love Machine came down beside MagnaAngemon. The angel Digimon looked up at him, his body pixelating once more, and tried unsuccessfully to get up once again.

"Oh no!" Yolei cried. "Is he gonna eat him now that he can't fight anymore?"

"Like we'll let that happen!" Chibomon declared. "Come on, guys. We might not be able to fight, but lets do what we can.  _Bubble Blow!"_

The others followed suit, producing a series of pink bubbles. They flowed over to MagnaAngemon and covered his body, providing him with a weak yet protective barrier from the A.I.

Love Machine turned to them. He held up his hand and fired Paildramon's  _Electric Bolt_  attack. The electricity struck the ground in front of them, sending the In-Training and Baby Digimon flying and making the humans recoil.

"No!"

The cry came from the pile of bubbles, and MagnaAngemon burst up from it, slashing at Love Machine. The A.I. easily hopped out of the way and landed a distance away.

MagnaAngemon was burning with fury. "I will not allow you to hurt my friends! You are a menace that is unfit for this world, and so I shall expel you from it permanently!" His blade began glowing brightly as he traced a circle in front of him.  _"Gate of Destiny!"_

His blade cut through the air, leaving a trail of light behind. Once the circle was complete, the light filled it. It only lasted for a few seconds before fading, leaving behind a circular object. Floating in the air like a giant coin, it was gold and covered in intricate designs. For a few seconds it rotated clockwise before the center slid open. What appeared to be illuminated water filled the inside, leading to a realm of subspace.

Love Machine cocked his head to the side curiously as he stared at the floating gate. MagnaAngemon raced around him so the A.I. was between him and the gate. That's when the suction began, and Love Machine felt himself being pulled towards the gate as if it were a vacuum.

Turning to move from out of the gate's path, he was met by MagnaAngemon, who sped towards him and swung his blade. Love Machine raised his staff to block the blow, catching the blade. The angel Digimon pushed back against him, and Love Machine slid closer to the gate under the combined effort of MagnaAngemon's strength and the gate's suction.

He resisted, digging his feet into the ground, but couldn't fight the pull of the gate along with MagnaAngemon pushing him back. The gate got closer and closer, and Love Machine felt his feet leave the ground as he was drawn into the gate.

"You brought this on yourself," MagnaAngemon told him, and pushed harder. "Now you are to be confined to oblivion for all eternity."

Love Machine's body began to disappear into the gate, vanishing beneath its liquid-like surface. His staff alone, being held horizontally, could not fit through the gate, and was the only thing keeping him from falling through. Love Machine dared to let go with one hand, raising it up in the air. Energy began gathering in his palm, and MagnaAngemon recognized the telltale signs of him about to unleash Huanglongmon's  _Taikyoku_  attack.

" _Excali-burst!"_  he cried, striking the staff with all his strength.

The staff snapped in two, and Love Machine fell back, disappearing beneath the water-like surface of the gate, and was gone, lost forever within the subspace of the angel Digimon's  _Gate of Destiny_.

MagnaAngemon lowered his blade, breathing heavily. The gate had no affect on him, and he stared into its illuminated surface. There would be no escape for the A.I. The Digital World was safe once again.

"MagnaAngemon!"

He turned when he heard his name being called, and saw his friends racing towards him. He smiled and was about to warn them not to get to close to the gate while it was still open when an arm suddenly wrapped around his neck.

The DigiDestined called his name again, this time out of fear for him. He looked over his shoulder and saw Love Machine's head emerge from the gate's watery surface. His hand grabbed the A.I's arm as Love Machine gripped him tighter, trying to pull him into the portal as well.

MagnaAngemon struggled, trying to pry the A.I.'s arm off him. He saw Love Machine's permanently smirking face out of the corner of his eye as the A.I. emerged further. He raised his other arm, aiming the blade at Love Machine's head, but the A.I.'s other hand came through the gate, grabbing MagnaAngemon's wrist, pointing the blade away.

"Hang on," Davis cried, "we're coming!"

MagnaAngemon struggled to get his voice past his throat with Love Machine's arm pressed against it. "N-No… Stay back… If you… get too close… the gate will… pull you in too…"

He gagged against the pressure against his neck as Love Machine pulled him back. He felt his feet leave the ground, and he began kicking as he fought against the A.I. There was no breaking his grip. At this rate, he would be pulled into the gate, and they would both be lost.

" _Celestial Arrow!"_

Love Machine went rigid as an arrow of light pierced the top of his head and stuck out from his chin. His grip became slack and MagnaAngemon pulled away as the A.I. drifted back through the water-like surface.

"Seal it!" Angewomon shouted to her fellow angel Digimon.

MagnaAngemon didn't need to be told twice. He waved his blade at the gate, and the doors shut. It began rotating counter-clockwise, as if it were a lock locking, and slowly dissolved into particles of light and disappeared.

MagnaAngemon fell to his knees and immediately DeDigivolved down to Tokomon. Angewomon landed beside him and picked him up.

"Well done," she told him, smiling. "Thank you for filling in for me while I was preoccupied."

Tokomon returned the smile. "Sure, no problem. Glad you managed to break through that illusion."

"Angewomon! Tokomon!"

Their friends joined them. Kari wrapped her arms around the angel Digimon's leg while TK held out his own arms to accept and hug Tokomon tightly.

"You guys had us so worried," he said.

"Yeah," Yolei agreed, "we thought he was going to pull MagnaAngemon in with him."

"Great idea, by the way," Davis added. "We should have just used MagnaAngemon's  _Gate of Destiny_  to begin with."

Tokomon gave him a serious look. "Banishing someone like that is not something to be taken lightly. It's a very serious matter that must only be used in extreme circumstances. I've only ever used it on Piedmon and that failed attempt on BlackWarGreymon."

"Well, I think you made the right call," Cody told him. "From what we could tell from Love Machine, even if we had destroyed him, he would have started causing trouble all over again once he was reborn."

"I agree," said Ken. "Life was just a big game to him. Destroying him would have been no different than hitting the  _RESET_  button on a game console. And at the rate he developed, he would have regained his strength in no time.

"Speaking of strength," Upamon chimed in, "nice job breaking free of his illusion, Angewomon. That was a Digimon Sovereign's attack, beating it is an incredible feat."

No longer needing her Ultimate level form, the angel Digimon DeDigivolved down to Gatomon. "Well, it certainly wasn't easy. In the illusion, I was stuck as Salamon surrounded by a whole bunch of copies Myotismon and his Digivolutions. All of you were already dead, but they wanted to take their time and kill me slowly."

Leafmon shivered. "Yikes, that must have been scary. How'd you beat it?"

Gatomon smiled at her friends. "It's because of you guys. As real as the illusion seemed, I refused to believe that we could be defeated like that. I couldn't accept it, I wouldn't. I knew it had to be a trick of some kind, no matter how real it felt. Once I convinced myself of that, I was able to see through the illusion and break free, just in time to see Love Machine about to pull MagnaAngemon into the gate with him, so I intervened."

"And I am eternally grateful for that," Tokomon told her.

Yolei moved her glasses out of the way and rubbed her eyes. "Wow, it's great that you have such faith in us to be able to see through that illusion like that."

"And zhere een liez your ztrength."

The heavily accented voice came from up above as one of Gennai's copies came down, riding on the back of a Unimon.

"Hey, French-Gennai," Davis greeted.

Ken closed his eyes and sighed. "Davis, don't be rude."

But Gennai's copy didn't appear to be bothered by this. "I juzt vant to congratulate you on your veectory, and thank you on behalf of my predezezzor and all zee otherz."

Davis gave him a thumbs up. "Hey, no problem. That's what we DigiDestined do."

Kari was nowhere near as cheerful as their so-called leader. Now that the relief and joy of their victory had diminished, the impact of their loss settled in. "But… we lost Gennai… He's… He's gone…"

The French duplicate just smiled and hopped off Unimon's back. "Zhat eez another reazon why I am here; to zet your mindz at eaze."

He was holding a bundle in his arms, and he showed it to them. Wrapped in blankets was what appeared to be a newborn baby boy. He looked up at the DigiDestined with eyes that held many years of wisdom, regardless of the fact that they were the eyes of a baby.

The DigiDestined stared at the infant in awe.

"Is that… Gennai?" TK asked.

French-Gennai nodded.  _"Oui_ , eet eez. Deegeemon are not zhe only vons who are reborn. Eet Eez zhe zame for all Deegeetal life formz, even eef vee do rezemble humanz."

The baby Gennai reached up with his little hand to the DigiDestined. Yolei reached for him as well, and the baby grasped her finger.

"Aww!" she practically squealed. "He's so cute!"

Davis cocked his head to the side curiously. "But shouldn't he be a Digi-Egg right now?"

French-Gennai chuckled. "Only Deegeemon ztart over az eggz. Not all Deegeetal life eez zhe zame; juzt az not all organeec life eez zhe zame."

These words stirred up a warning in Ken. "Speaking if Digital life, it seems to go hand in hand with technology. After all, it was human technology that created Love Machine, even if it was from an alternate reality. We're going to have to be more careful with our advancement in the future to make sure nothing like this ever happens again."

Davis openly pouted. "Oh, great. That makes it sound like we're going to end up like those radical nonconformist, technology hating, environmentalists that's afraid of advancement."

In the adult Gennai's arms, the infant cut his eyes at Davis. "Don't be a baby."

**THE END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: Now wasn't that cute. Did you think I killed Gennai off for good? Nope, he's not a Digimon, but he's still a Digital life form despite his human appearance, and Digital life forms are just reborn when they die. Of course, that means he needs to start over again as a baby. But he still has all the wisdom and knowledge he had before, just as Digimon do, so he should be able to talk. Cheeky words for a newborn. But now the Digital World is safe once again. Love Machine is trapped beyond the worlds, and all is well. I hope everyone enjoyed my story, and it haven't been persuaded by it to watch Summer Wars encourage it. On another note, I'm planning another "Digimon" story. This next one won't be like my others. It'll be long, over 100,000 words. I'm actually planning on doing my own entire Digimon Season using several characters from different seasons in an AU. If you're interested, I hope you'll look into it. I'm putting in a lot of time and doing a lot of research. Just give me a few weeks and I'll have the first chapter up. Until then, feel free to review to your heart's content.)


	13. Digimon Card Game Rules and Cards

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: For those of you that were interested, these are the cards and the rules for the Digimon card game for "Digimon World 3" for PlayStation.)
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A card battle consists of up to 3 rounds. The first one to win 2 rounds wins the battle. Each round consists of six phases.

**1) Start Phase** : The cards Calumon and Impmon are placed face down. You get to choose one card. If you get Calumon, you go first, if you get Impmon, your opponent goes first.

**2) Draw Phase** : Each player draws six cards.

**3) Load Phase** : Both players play Program Cards in this phase. Once both players pass, the next phase begins.

**4) Summon Phase** : Both players summon Digimon in this phase.

**5) Compile Phase** : Both players play their remaining Program Cards until both players pass.

**6) Battle Phase** : The Digimon attack each other. AP is used to reduce the opponent's HP. The one with most HP left wins. If it's a tie, whoever received the Calumon card at the beginning wins.

Digimon need S-Energies in order to be summoned. Rookies do not need any S-Energies. Champions need 1, Ultimates need 2, and Megas need 3. The different S-Energies are Black, Red, Blue, Green, and White. The S-Energy a Digimon needs depends on the color of its border, the colors being the same as the S-Energies. Brown colored borders do not require S-Energies to be summoned. You gain 1 S-Energy for each border of that color. Any unused S-Energies gained can be used the following round.

Combos are when you have 3 of the same Digimon on the field. The total amount of the combo cards will be added onto the original total of AP/HP you have already gained. If there are more than four, there is a bonus.

 

**Example:**

4 Gomamon with 2AP/3HP each. Original total – 8AP/12HP

Combo bonus:

2 x 4 = 8

3 x 4 = 12

8 + 12 = 20

8AP + 20 = 28AP

12HP + 20 = 32HP

New total – 28AP/32HP

There are 316 cards including the Calumon and Impmon cards. 256 are Digimon Cards, 60 of them are Program Cards.

 

DIGIMON CARDS, AP/HP

**Calumon**  – 0/0

**Impmon**  – 0/0

**Imperialdramon Paladin Mode**  – 62/70

**SlushAngemon**  – 55/55

**WarGreymon**  – 52/52

**Imperialdramon_(1)**  – 53/50

**Seraphimon**  – 46/50

**Magnadramon**  – 45/48

**Valkrimon**  – 42/45

**PrinceMamemon**  – 40/42

**Rosemon_(1)**  – 40/40

**Paildramon_(1)**  – 35/30

**MagnaAngemon**  – 31/33

**Angewomon**  – 31/33

**Kyukimon**  – 30/30

**IceLeomon**  – 28/28

**Silphymon**  – 26/28

**Knightmon**  – 25/27

**MetalMamemon**  – 24/24

**Mamemon**  – 22/26

**Piximon**  – 20/24

**Dinohyumon**  – 15/15

**Angemon**  – 14/16

**Stingmon**  – 14/14

**Gatomon**  – 13/14

**Piddomon**  – 13/13

**Apemon**  – 13/11

**Centarumon**  – 12/13

**Snimon**  – 12/12

**Thundermon**  – 12/10

**Unimon**  – 11/12

**ShimaUnimon**  – 11/11

**Ankylomon**  – 10/13

**Gururumon**  – 10/10

**Tortomon**  – 9/11

**Weedmon**  – 7/7

**Yanmamon**  – 6/8

**Kotemon**  – 5/5

**Armadillomon**  – 2/3

**Psychemon**  – 2/2

**Elecmon**  – 2/1

**Patamon** – 1/4

**Wormmon**  – 1/3

**Kunemon**  – 1/1

**Salamon**  – 0/5

**Cannondramon**  – 55/55

**Sakuyamon**  – 50/50

**Vikemon**  – 45/43

**MetalSeadramon**  – 42/38

**Pukumon**  – 40/42

**SuperStarmon**  – 39/35

**Plesiomon**  – 35/35

**Babamon**  – 35/30

**MarineAngemon**  – 10/10

**Zudomon**  – 34/30

**MegaSeadramon**  – 32/32

**Taomon**  – 32/30

**Armormon**  – 30/30

**BlueMeramon**  – 27/25

**ShogunGekomon**  – 24/22

**Scorpiomon**  – 24/26

**Brachiomon**  – 23/26

**WaruSeadramon**  – 21/21

**Divermon**  – 20/15

**Whamon**  – 18/18

**Seadramon**  – 16/15

**Kyubimon**  – 15/16

**Hookmon**  – 15/15

**IceDevimon**  – 14/12

**Shellmon**  – 13/15

**Ikkakumon**  – 13/13

**Frigimon**  – 12/13

**Ebidramon**  – 12/11

**Icemon**  – 12/10

**Mojyamon**  – 11/12

**Ninjamon**  – 11/10

**Starmon**  – 11/9

**Coelamon**  – 10/9

**Dolphmon**  – 9/7

**Gekomon**  – 7/5

**Monmon**  – 5/5

**Renamon**  – 4/4

**Gomamon**  – 2/3

**SnowAgumon**  – 2/2

**Gizamon**  – 1/1

**Otamamon**  – 1/1

**Crabmon**  – 0/3

**Syakomon**  – 0/2

**Omnimon_(1)**  – 60/62

**Marsmon**  – 55/55

**MetalGarurumon**  – 51/51

**HerculesKabuterimon**  – 50/50

**GranKuwagamon**  – 49/49

**Rosemon_(2)**  – 0/0

**KingEtemon**  – 38/35

**MetalEtemon**  – 35/35

**SaberLeomon**  – 10/10

**MegaKabuterimon**  – 33/36

**WereGarurumon**  – 32/30

**GrapLeomon**  – 30/30

**Okuwamon**  – 29/33

**Lilymon**  – 27/25

**Etemon**  – 25/25

**Triceramon**  – 26/28

**Cherrymon**  – 28/22

**Blossomon**  – 22/20

**Deramon**  – 21/18

**Leomon**  – 16/18

**Grizzlymon**  – 15/15

**Kabuterimon**  – 14/16

**Garurumon**  – 14/14

**Tuskmon**  – 14/12

**Monochromon**  – 13/13

**MoriShellmon**  – 13/15

**Kuwagamon**  – 13/10

**JungleMojyamon**  – 12/13

**Togemon**  – 12/12

**Flymon**  – 12/11

**Saberdramon**  – 11/10

**Dokugumon**  – 10/9

**Kiwimon**  – 9/7

**Woodmon**  – 8/8

**Vegiemon**  – 7/7

**Kumamon**  – 5/5

**Gabumon**  – 4/3

**Tentomon**  – 2/3

**Palmon**  – 2/2

**Betamon**  – 2/1

**Kokuwamon**  – 1/3

**Floramon**  – 1/1

**Mushroomon**  – 0/2

**Omnimon_(2)** – 61/61

**Gallantmon**  – 56/52

**Imperialdramon Fighter Mode**  – 55/55

**Imperialdramon_(2)**  – 50/55

**MegaGargomon**  – 50/50

**Machinedramon**  – 50/49

**Hououmon**  – 45/43

**SkullMammothmon**  – 44/40

**Gryphonmon**  – 0/0

**Paildramon_(2)**  – 33/33

**MetalGreymon**  – 34/32

**WarGrowlmon**  – 33/30

**Garudamon**  – 30/25

**Kimeramon**  – 29/27

**MasterTyrannomon**  – 29/26

**Gigadramon**  – 28/22

**Megadramon**  – 26/20

**MetalTyrannomon**  – 25/25

**Mammothmon**  – 20/18

**Greymon**  – 20/20

**Growlmon**  – 18/20

**ExVeemon**  – 17/16

**Veedramon**  – 15/16

**Airdramon**  – 15/15

**Ogremon**  – 14/12

**Minotarumon**  – 13/12

**Fugamon**  – 13/11

**Tyrannomon**  – 12/11

**Aquilamon**  – 12/10

**Meramon**  – 11/10

**Birdramon**  – 11/9

**Flarerizamon**  – 10/9

**RedVegiemon**  – 8/6

**Akatorimon**  – 7/7

**SandYanmamon**  – 7/6

**Agumon**  – 5/3

**Veemon**  – 4/4

**Guilmon**  – 3/3

**Hawkmon**  – 2/3

**Biyomon**  – 2/2

**Goblimon**  – 2/1

**Shamanmon**  – 1/2

**Penguinmon**  – 1/1

**Armageddemon**  – 65/62

**VenomMyotismon**  – 60/50

**Diaboromon**  – 58/58

**MaloMyotismon**  – 53/53

**Beelzemon**  – 51/51

**Apocalymon**  – 50/51

**Ghoulmon**  – 43/40

**Piedmon**  – 42/40

**Daemon**  – 99/99

**Myotismon**  – 35/36

**Inferimon**  – 34/35

**Dragomon**  – 33/33

**SkullSatamon**  – 32/32

**SkullGreymon**  – 32/28

**Mummymon**  – 31/26

**Arukenimon**  – 31/31

**LadyDevimon**  – 30/28

**SkullMeramon**  – 28/26

**WaruMonzaemon**  – 26/22

**Devimon**  – 19/18

**Chrysalimon**  – 16/15

**Raremon**  – 15/15

**MarineDevimon**  – 15/13

**Musyamon**  – 14/12

**Wizardmon**  – 13/11

**DarkTyrannomon**  – 12/13

**Devidramon**  – 12/12

**Vilemon**  – 12/11

**Hyogamon**  – 12/10

**DarkLizardmon**  – 11/11

**Octomon**  – 11/9

**Gesomon**  – 11/8

**Soulmon**  – 10/10

**Bakemon**  – 10/9

**Roachmon**  – 9/8

**DemiDevimon**  – 3/3

**Gazimon**  – 2/4

**Aruraumon**  – 2/2

**Tsukaimon**  – 2/1

**ModokiBetamon**  – 1/2

**Tapirmon**  – 1/2

**Candlemon**  – 1/1

**Muchomon**  – 1/1

**BlackWarGreymon**  – 60/55

**BlackImperialdramon**  – 50/40

**BlackMegaGargomon**  – 47/37

**BlackSeraphimon**  – 46/36

**BlackWarGrowlmon**  – 45/30

**BlackKingNumemon**  – 43/30

**HiAndromon**  – 42/35

**Boltmon**  – 39/32

**Puppetmon**  – 36/30

**Shakkoumon**  – 32/34

**Andromon**  – 31/29

**Giromon**  – 29/29

**Datamon**  – 28/22

**ExTyrannomon**  – 26/28

**Monzaemon**  – 25/25

**Digitamamon**  – 24/28

**Vademon**  – 24/22

**Garbagemon**  – 22/20

**Meteormon**  – 21/23

**Cyclonemon**  – 16/16

**Rockmon**  – 15/18

**Deltamon**  – 14/14

**Guardromon**  – 13/15

**Tankmon**  – 13/13

**Clockmon**  – 12/12

**Chuchidarumon**  – 12/11

**PlatinumSukamon**  – 12/10

**BomberNanimon**  – 12/9

**Drimogemon**  – 11/12

**NiseDrimogemon**  – 11/11

**Sukamon**  – 11/10

**Geremon**  – 11/9

**Kokatorimon**  – 10/9

**Numemon**  – 10/7

**ShellNumemon**  – 9/9

**ClearAgumon**  – 3/4

**ToyAgumon**  – 3/3

**Gotsumon**  – 2/3

**Hagurumon**  – 1/2

 

PROGRAM CARDS

**Sacred Spear**  – Send all non-white Digimon to the Trash.

**Summon Angemon**  – Bring 2 Angemon to the Field.

**Gold Aura**  – Add 10 AP/HP to all Digimon.

**Protect Aura**  – Add 30 HP to one Digimon.

**White Power**  – Gain 1 white S-Energy point.

**Summon Patamon**  – Bring 1 Patamon to the Field.

**Tidal Wave**  – Send all non-blue Digimon to the Trash.

**Control Parts**  – Control 1 of your opponent's Digimon.

**Freeze Bug**  – Send a drawn Program Card card to Trash.

**Eclipse Undo**  – Return 1 Digimon back to its Hand.

**Blue Power**  – Gain 1 blue S-Energy point.

**Summon Gomamon**  – Bring 1 Gomamon to the Field.

**Wield Aura**  – Add 50 AP/HP to all green Digimon.

**Ecoly Cycle**  – Pick a card from the Trash.

**Green Force**  – Gain 2 green S-Energy points.

**Beast Energy**  – Add 20 AP/HP to one Digimon.

**Green Power**  – Gain 1 green S-Energy point.

**Summon Palmon**  – Bring 1 Palmon to the Field.

**Volcanic Gatlin**  – Gives 60 damage to all non-red Digimon.

**Blazing Chaos**  – Send all brown Digimon to the Trash.

**Flame Gatlin**  – Gives 15 damage to all Digimon.

**Fire Cannon**  – Gives 30 damage to your opponent's Digimon.

**Red Power**  – Gain 1 red S-Energy point.

**Summon Goblimon**  – Bring 1 Goblimon to the Field.

**Darkness Gale**  – Send all of your opponent's non-black cards to the Trash.

**Deceive Cloak**  – Pick 1 card from Deck.

**Chaos Virus**  – Send 1 non-black card to the Trash.

**Vicious Hacking**  – Pick a card from opponent's Hand to send to the Trash.

**Black Power**  – Gain 1 black S-Energy point.

**Summon Devimon**  – Bring 1 Devimon to the Field.

**Delete Matrix**  – Put all Digimon in the Trash.

**Fortune Gate**  – Exchange AP/HP from opponent.

**Misery Gate**  – Pick 3 cards from your opponent's Deck to send to the Trash.

**Desire Access**  – Put entire Hand in the Trash, draw 6 cards.

**Anti-Power**  – Reduces all S-Energy to zero.

**Revival Charge**  – Return all Trashed card to Deck.

**Chrono Balance**  – Makes both players have 3 cards.

**Security Hall**  – Send 5 card from opponent's Deck to the Trash.

**Absolute Barrier**  – Reduce opponent's AP to 0.

**Scramble Up**  – Bring a Digimon from Hand to the Field.

**Power Super Metal**  – Add 30 AP/HP to a brown Digimon.

**Charge Terminal**  – Draw 2 card from Deck.

**Digimon Charge**  – Choose a Digimon from Deck to add to Hand.

**Program Charge**  – Choose a Program Card from Deck to add to Hand.

**Trade Charge**  – Draw one card, put one another in the Trash.

**Illegal Access**  – Send 2 cards from your opponent's Deck to Trash.

**Break Launcher**  – 30 damage to a brown Digimon.

**Cancel Wheel**  – Send a drawn Program Card to the Trash.

**Rusty Dust**  – Send 1 brown Digimon from opponent's Hand to the Trash.

**Summon Hagurumon**  – Bring Hagurumon to the Field.

**White Remove**  – Subtract 2 white S-Energies.

**Blue Remove**  – Subtract 2 blue S-Energies.

**Green Remove**  – Subtract 2 green S-Energies.

**Red Remove**  – Subtract 2 red S-Energies.

**Black Remove**  – Subtract 2 black S-Energies.

**Summon Cancel**  – Return a brown Digimon to Hand.

**Berserk Energy**  – Add 10 AP and subtract 10 HP to a Digimon.

**Disturb Gear**  – Send a brown Digimon from the Field to the Trash.

**Protect Armor**  – Add 10 HP to a Digimon.

**Assault Armor**  – Add 10 AP to a Digimon.


End file.
